The Knicks don’t need the preseason the way they used to.
After winning the title, New York enters Monday night’s opener in Philadelphia with a different kind of spotlight - less about urgency, more about fine-tuning. The reigning champs will wrap up their exhibition slate on October 15 against the Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden, and while the games won’t carry the same weight as the real thing, there are still a few storylines worth tracking.
Three players, in particular, stand out.
Jalen Brunson is the obvious headliner, even if the question sounds a little odd at first: why watch the reigning Finals MVP in October? Because the final stretch of last season revealed something important.
Not long after Brunson’s 45-point, title-sealing Game 5, it came out that he had been dealing with a wrist injury since Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. He had offseason surgery, his cast is off, and he’s cleared to play.
Still, because the injury affected the wrist on his left shooting hand, the preseason could offer the first real look at whether his touch needs a little time to come back. It’s Brunson, so nobody’s sounding alarms - but it’s worth watching.
Mohamed Diawara is the more intriguing developmental name. With so much of the championship roster back in place, cracking the rotation won’t be easy for anyone who spent much of last season on the outside looking in.
Diawara may have the best path among that group. His summer league showing didn’t help his case, though that can be chalked up to an awkward fit around him.
He also dealt with a left ring finger injury during summer league, but he’s ready now, too. The 21-year-old had some promising moments as a rookie in 2025-26, and even if he doesn’t open the season in the rotation, OG Anunoby is expected to miss games at some point, which should create chances for Diawara.
Then there’s James Wiseman, a player fighting for something far more immediate: a roster spot. Bruce Brown, Ochai Agbaji, Drew Eubanks and Tony Bradley are all in that same camp battle, but Wiseman gets the nod here because of the upside attached to his name.
The second overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft has had his career slowed by injuries and has not come close to matching that draft position. Even so, he looks like the early favorite among that group thanks to his ceiling, New York’s need for another big, and his connection with Mike Brown from their Golden State Warriors days.
Now the preseason is his chance to make the case that he belongs.
In Other News...
Bruce Brown Is Suddenly In A Knicks Fight Fans Didn't Expect
Bruce Browns path to New York has been shaped as much by the leagues new spending rules as by his own rsum. The 30-year-old forward, long valued as a high-energy bench piece, landed with the Knicks on a training camp deal after drawing limited interest elsewhere, a reminder of how the NBAs second apron has made life harder for veteran free agents hunting for the kind of stable, longer-term opportunity Brown once would have had.
Now Brown is simply trying to stick, which is a different challenge entirely. Training camp invitations always carry an edge of uncertainty, but in this case the Knicks depth chart leaves little room for comfort, and the competition for a roster spot has become the real story as New York sorts out its back end before opening night. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Opener Got Pulled Into A LeBron Embiid Tension Story
The Knicks preseason opener wound up carrying a little extra chatter before the ball was even tipped, thanks to a Mike Breen mention of a story involving LeBron James and Joel Embiid. The buzz centered on an alleged incident in which James supposedly reprimanded Embiid for being late to a 76ers practice, a bit of sideline gossip that quickly spread beyond the game itself even though neither star took part in the matchup against New York.
LeBron publicly pushed back on the tale on Instagram, while Embiid has stayed quiet. Inside the 76ers, the picture has sounded much calmer, with reports indicating the groups practices and workouts have been viewed in positive terms. For the Knicks, it meant a preseason game briefly got pulled into a bigger league conversation, the sort of off-court thread that can linger even when the players at the center of it are not on the floor. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Are Running Into A Harsh Pacome Dadiet Reality
Pacome Dadiets first year in New York has not exactly given the Knicks much leverage. The team is said to be exploring ways to move the young wing in order to clear a roster spot and create a little more salary-cap flexibility, but the market has not responded the way they had hoped. After a lukewarm Summer League, World Cup qualifiers and preseason showing, Dadiet has not built the kind of buzz that usually helps a player become a useful trade chip.
For the Knicks, that leaves a familiar front office problem: trying to turn a roster logjam into a clean solution without paying too high a price. There has been no concrete deal reported, and the lack of outside interest suggests New York may have to get creative to get anything done. For now, Dadiet remains on the roster and the team is still looking for a path forward that fits both the cap sheet and the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]