Tyler Kolek has turned a short window into something bigger for the Knicks.
What started as a backup-point-guard opening has turned into a real hold on the job. Jose Alvarado got the first crack after the Knicks’ second loss to open the 2026-27 regular season, but Tyler Kolek got his chance when Alvarado was out, and Mike Brown said before the Brooklyn Nets game that, despite how well Kolek had played, he didn’t want to penalize the Brooklynite for getting hurt. The Knicks struggled that night anyway, and Brown circled back to Kolek.
Since then, Kolek has looked like the guard Brown trusts most behind Jalen Brunson. Against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, he played over Brunson for about the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter. In the wake of that performance, the 25-year-old is averaging 5.0 assists against just 0.6 turnovers per game.
The part that may matter most is how well he fits with Karl-Anthony Towns.
Before Wednesday’s loss, Knicks Film School’s DJ Zullo highlighted the numbers on Twitter, noting that over a 570-minute sample, Kolek and Towns had posted a +15.8 net rating together. Zooming out across the three NBA seasons they’ve shared as teammates, the Knicks are +5.8 in 4,579 minutes with Towns and without Kolek, and +5.1 in more than 2,700 minutes with both players off the floor. The lineups featuring both Towns and Kolek have been better on both ends than either of those other combinations.
That tracks with what the Knicks need from the position. Last season, Alvarado adjusted quickly by understanding that getting Towns the ball - and giving him chances to create on offense - was the key to his own role.
Kolek appears to have picked up the same lesson. If he keeps defending well enough for Brown to trust him in bigger moments, the offense he brings could be enough to win out over the alternatives.
That matters for Towns, too. He’s one of several Knicks seeking a contract extension, and a guard who keeps feeding him clean scoring chances only strengthens his case.
Towns put up 21 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists against the Cavaliers, one night after finishing with 21 points and 16 rebounds against the Milwaukee Bucks. In New York’s first meeting with Cleveland, he had 29 points and 13 rebounds.
In a league where Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama both accepted less than the maximum on their most recent extensions, Towns can’t take it personally if the Knicks don’t immediately go past the second apron to keep him long term. What he can do is keep producing. Kolek seems more than willing to help him do exactly that.
The Knicks’ early title-defense stumble hasn’t changed Brown’s message: the standard is higher now. After winning the 2026 NBA Championship, New York opened the 2026-27 season with three straight losses, but Brown has already shown he’s willing to make hard calls. He benched Mikal Bridges for Landry Shamet late in the second loss, then turned to James Wiseman as the second-half backup center in the third after Andre Drummond’s play fell short.
That pressure has created openings, and Kolek has taken one of them. He was easy to overlook in the 2026 offseason while fans focused on possible extensions for Towns, Josh Hart, and Miles McBride. But if this stretch keeps going, Kolek will push his way into that same conversation, too.
In Other News...
Knicks Backcourt Suddenly Has Another Young Guard Worth Watching
A former lottery pick is on the verge of landing in the Knicks orbit, giving Westchester another young guard worth tracking this winter. Rob Dillingham, who was waived by the Hornets in September, is expected to sign with the Westchester Knicks once the waivers process is complete, adding a player with real pedigree to the organizations developmental pipeline.
Dillingham entered the league as the No. 8 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft and has already bounced through stops with the Timberwolves and Bulls in his first two NBA seasons. He has shown flashes along the way, but he still has not carved out a steady home on an NBA roster, which makes this next step a chance to reset his stock while giving the Knicks a closer look at a guard who still has plenty of upside. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks May Need A Real Tyler Kolek Rotation Test Soon
Tyler Kolek has quietly started to carve out a real role for the Knicks in recent games, and the minutes have been more than just late-game housekeeping. He got a run against Milwaukee before the outcome was settled, then followed it up with a 10-minute stint against the Bulls in which he handed out five assists without a turnover, the kind of clean, composed stretch that can catch a coaching staffs attention.
What comes next is the more interesting question for New York. The Knicks may want to see Kolek alongside a starter soon, especially with Cleveland on the schedule, to get a better read on whether he can organize the offense against a higher-level opponent and not just in spot duty. It is still a speculative idea, but it feels like the sort of test that could tell the Knicks a lot about how much trust they can place in him moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Mike Brown Sounds Off After Knicks Loss Raises Brunson Concern
The Knicks loss to Cleveland came with a familiar kind of frustration, the sort that lingers long after the final buzzer because it leaves you wondering what might have been different. Jalen Brunson still led New York with 27 points in 35 minutes, but the lack of trips to the line stood out in a game the Knicks dropped by eight, especially with the Cavaliers finishing with 14 more free-throw attempts.
Mike Brown did not hide his irritation afterward, pointing to the officiating and the disparity at the stripe as a major issue. For a Knicks team trying to keep pace in a tight stretch, the concern is not just the result itself but whether Brunsons night without a free-throw attempt becomes part of a bigger pattern worth watching. [Read more 🡒]