The Knicks may have already climbed to the top of the NBA, but the organization is acting like the work is only starting.
Fresh off beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games to win the 2026 NBA Finals, New York’s front office is pushing ahead with a plan that reaches well beyond one banner. Leon Rose has spent the offseason trying to keep the core intact, even as the roster around it keeps shifting.
Karl-Anthony Towns has openly said he wants to help preserve that group, even if that means taking tens of millions less than the maximum on his next contract. At the same time, the Knicks signed Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado, and Mohamed Diawara to long-term deals, but the departures and possible exits are impossible to miss.
Mitchell Robinson is gone, and Miles McBride, now the team’s longest-tenured player, appears headed toward a similar outcome unless New York has a different plan in the works.
That planning is showing up most clearly in Westchester.
Even after winning the title, the Knicks’ developmental push at the G-League level has picked up urgency. That may have something to do with the team choosing to treat the salary cap’s second apron as a hard cap, or with the pause in talks involving Towns, McBride, and Josh Hart. Whatever the reason, New York is making it clear that the next wave matters.
The Knicks are using every path they can to stock that pipeline. Draft picks remain part of the equation, but so does hunting for young players elsewhere around the league.
Ahead of Summer League, Westchester added Jaden Akins, a star for the Motor City Cruise. Detroit’s selection of Ebuka Okorie pushed Akins farther down the guard depth chart, and that opened the door for New York to move in.
The Knicks were interested and are reportedly high on the 23-year-old guard.
They also added Jack Kayil and Tyler Nickel after the 2026 title, with Kayil stashed overseas and Nickel apparently set to get as much G-League run as possible. Then came another move after the regular season began: New York waived two-way player Kevin McCullar Jr. to create space for Dalton Knecht, the 17th overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2024. Brown told reporters on Sunday that Knecht would go down to the G-League so he could get on the court in orange and blue, according to Kristian Winfield.
Dink Pate, who lost his eligibility battle with the NCAA, adds another name to the mix.
Put it all together, and Westchester looks less like a side project and more like a deliberate extension of the Knicks’ roster-building strategy. With Rose and 2025 G-League Executive of the Year Ryan Borges involved, New York is clearly building something with the future in mind.
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