Landry Shamet may end up being one of the Knicks’ most important rotation pieces simply because of who’s behind him.
New York’s wing depth is thin enough that the margin for error is small. Outside the starters, the Knicks have only two wings listed at 6-foot-5 or taller who averaged at least 10.0 minutes per game in 2025-26: Shamet, who played 23.0 minutes a night, and Jordan Clarkson, who is 34 years old, averaged 17.8 minutes, and shot 32.7 percent from three.
There’s some hope in the form of Mohamed Diawara and Tyler Nickel, but that optimism is still more projection than proof. Until those two show they can hold up in the NBA on a regular basis, New York needs Shamet to stay on the floor and keep giving them the two-way value he showed in 2025-26.
The Knicks have already gotten a huge payoff from betting on Shamet when his career looked like it might be sliding. He missed 42 games in 2022-23 and shot only 33.8 percent from beyond the arc in 2023-24. But once he settled in with New York, he looked like a real weapon again.
Over the last two seasons, Shamet has been exactly the kind of reserve the Knicks hoped they were getting: a shooter who can stretch defenses and, more recently, contribute on the other end too. In 2024-25, he hit 39.7 percent of his threes.
In 2025-26, he knocked down 39.2 percent. That production came even as injuries kept interrupting his rhythm.
Availability has been the catch. Shamet missed 32 games in 2024-25 and another 32 in 2025-26.
He dislocated his shoulder during the 2024-25 preseason, then later sat out 25 games in 2025-26 because of a right shoulder sprain. That kept the Knicks from ever really building a season-long rhythm with him.
Instead, he spent two years filling gaps as best he could and earning trust the hard way from both Mike Brown and Tom Thibodeau.
What makes Shamet so valuable is that he’s more than just a standstill shooter. He’s flirted with 40 percent from deep overall, and Basketball Index had him in the 93rd and 85th percentiles in catch-and-shoot three-point shot making efficiency. On top of that, he took a noticeable step defensively in 2025-26 and started to look like a legitimate 3-and-D wing.
According to Basketball Index, Shamet finished that season in the 74th percentile in perimeter isolation defense, the 73rd percentile in ball screen navigation, and the 66th percentile in off-ball chaser defense. He also ranked in the 86th percentile in rim deterrence, using his size and positioning to keep opponents away from the basket.
That matters for a Knicks team leaning on OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart. When the depth chart gets thin behind those three, a 6-foot-5 wing who can both shoot and defend is more than useful - he’s the kind of piece that helps keep the whole thing together over 82 games.
It also gives New York some flexibility. With Shamet available, the Knicks can ease the load on Anunoby, Bridges, and Hart and keep them in roles that don’t wear them down quite as much during the regular season. That kind of workload management could pay off when the playoffs arrive and those same players are asked to carry heavy two-way minutes again.
Now the Knicks are entering the 2026-27 season with Shamet under a four-year contract and, at least potentially, a clean bill of health. If he can simply stay available, New York should have a much easier time spacing the floor, protecting its top wings, and chasing another title run.
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With Andre Drummond now in the mix and wing depth still thin, the need for Diawara to handle both wing duties and some center rotation responsibilities is becoming harder to ignore. For a team trying to keep its lineup flexible while sorting through the rest of the roster, his progress may end up mattering more than expected over the course of the season. [Read more 🡒]