The Knicks have every reason to like where their roster stands right now. They also have one obvious problem they still haven’t solved.
At center, the depth chart is too thin for comfort. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond give New York a legitimate starting point, but the margin behind them is small enough that a hard foul, an ankle tweak or a night of foul trouble could suddenly matter a lot more than it should.
That concern has only grown as the offseason has dragged on. Mitchell Robinson is gone to Boston.
Ariel Hukporti signed with Philadelphia. New York made a push for Moussa Cisse, only to see Dallas match the offer sheet.
So even with August here, the search for another big man is still alive.
The Knicks do have names to watch, especially younger centers who might become available during camp. But that’s not the same thing as having a reliable answer already on the roster. If Towns has to soak up every major center minute, or Drummond is forced into a bigger role than the one he was brought in to fill, the Knicks will feel it.
Part of the delay is easy to explain. The second apron has New York boxed in, with the team carrying 13 guaranteed standard contracts and only about $3.27 million of room below that threshold. That makes it hard to just add another expensive contract and worry about the rest later.
Still, the front office can’t treat this as a small loose end. Towns can absolutely rise to the moment - he did it in the Finals - but the Knicks shouldn’t be asking him to handle every matchup with the biggest opposing center simply because no affordable backup surfaced in August.
There’s logic to staying patient. Cuts, trades and non-guaranteed deals are still coming, and the right option could appear before opening night.
But patience has a limit, especially for a team defending a championship. New York won the title with real size and multiple looks in the frontcourt.
Recreating that kind of depth while the season is already underway is a much tougher way to live.
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The Knicks reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2025 and still came up short of ending the franchises long championship drought, falling to the Pacers after a spring that had already made them one of the leagues most talked-about teams. Their run included a win over the Celtics in the previous round, a series shaped in part by Jayson Tatums injury, but it also reflected something bigger than one playoff bracket: a roster built around size, switchability and wings who could survive the modern East.
New Yorks front office spent years leaning into that template by adding versatile pieces such as Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby, and the league has taken notice. The Knicks may not have won the conference, but the approach has already started to spread, with teams like the Cavaliers looking at similar roster construction as the path to better matchup options against Boston and the Easts top tier. [Read more 🡒]
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Beadle had Brunson above Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker, which is enough to keep the argument lively on its own. But she also slid other names ahead of him in a way that will irritate New York supporters, especially after Brunson just finished leading the Knicks to an NBA championship and backing it up with elite production in both the regular season and postseason. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Keep A Bench Piece They Could Not Afford To Lose
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His regular season fit was strong enough to make the decision easy, with 9.3 points per game and 39.2% shooting from deep underscoring why the front office wanted him back. For a Knicks team built around depth and versatility, keeping a proven catch-and-shoot presence matters, especially when the margins tighten and every stable bench piece starts to look more important than the box score suggests. [Read more 🡒]