The Knicks' season opener is finally here. While we can't fully predict the team's rotation may look like to kick off the year, we can deduce what it might look like following the early signals around the 2026-27 roster.
The starters
The starting lineup will remain the same. Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns will make up the starting five. And like we saw last season, it will very likely remain that way barring injuries. That doesn't mean that everything will stay exactly the same, though.
New York will prioritize the postseason, as they should. They are coming of a long postseason run that saw them playing basketball until June 13. That's weeks longer that almost every other team in the league. And it's not like this is a young team either.
Coming off of a shortened offseason, I wouldn't be overly surprised to see the starters play a few minutes less than they averaged last season in an attempt to slowly ramp up and make sure they remain fresh.
Brunson, who averaged 35 mpg last season, could end up playing closer to 32 or 33 minutes per game in the first few weeks. Anunoby, Bridges, and Towns, all of whom averaged 33.2 to 31 mpg, could be closer to the 30 minutes.
One caveat, though, is that the Knicks have a pretty tough schedule to start off the season. In their first six games, they play the 76ers (twice), Celtics, Magic, and Pistons.
Even if the Knicks want to take it nice and easy to start things off, their tough schedule may require the starters to play big minutes early on. And if that's the case, those five may play their usual midseason minutes from the get go.
The sixth men
The Knicks don't have a clear-cut sixth man. You won't see prime Jamal Crawford or J.R. Smith walking through the Madison Square Garden tunnel. None of their bench players will average over 30 mpg. But they do have two players in Landry Shamet and Miles McBride who will very often close games out and routinely see their minutes climb into the high 20s.
Mike Brown loves Shamet, whom James L. Edwards of The Athletics believes could end up playing more than McBride this season. McBride may have had a disappointing preseason outside of the final game. But he's still very important to what the team wants to, and they may also want to continue getting as much out of McBride before potentially losing him in the offseason.
Shamet and McBride averaged 23 mpg and 26.3 mpg, respectively, last season and could see an uptick in minutes early on, especially with Shamet having a very solid preseason overall.
The other main backups
Jose Alvarado, Mohamed Diawara, and Andre Drummond may not get quite the same amount of love or attention as McBride and Shamet do, and they'll play less minutes than them, too. But they are still very solid players who will play large roles this season.
Alvarado, who averaged 16.9 mpg as a Knick last season, could see a few more minutes per game in his first full season as a Knick. Drummond should see around 20 mpg, as that's what he averaged last season, and that's right around what Mitchell Robinson averaged as well last season.
Diawara will be the tough one to fully gauge because he's still inexperienced, and has had an very mediocre Summer League and preseason. That could push Brown to lean on Jordan Clarkson more early on.
If the Knicks' tough schedule early on calls for the starters to play heavy minutes, though, don't be surprised to see these three's minutes look a little low for the first two weeks.
Fringe guys
Clarkson could find himself here at certain points throughout the season depending on the play and growth of Diawara. But I wouldn't expect him to start the season off so given Diawara's aforementioned lack of experience.
The two true fringe guys on this team are likely going to be Tyler Kolek and James Wiseman.
Kolek's path to playing time is firmly blocked by Brunson and Alvarado. But if the latter goes through an extended slump or an injury, Kolek will see spot minutes throughout the season like he did last season.
Wiseman shouldn't be expected to play much either. But Towns still has yet to proven that he's fully over the foul issues and Drummond has missed his share of games over the last two seasons. Neither will appear in every game, but should still find a way to average a few minutes per game and accrue 500-700 minutes each throughout the year.
End of the bench
As inconsistent as Kolek and Wiseman's minutes will be, they will still play a role on this team. They have difficult and blocked, but still paths to playing time including, but not limited to, injuries and foul troubles. Pacome Dadiet, on the other hand, doesn't really have that benefit.
He's stuck behind not just one or two, but multiple players at his position. That means even were there to be injuries or foul trouble, there are still several options for Brown to go to before he even thinks of Dadiet.
The third-year man may get minutes here and there as they try to showcase him in an attempt to miraculously boost his trade value. And surely, he'll continue to see garbage minutes during blow outs. But as far as the rotation goes, Dadiet will not be a part of it. Nor will he even be a part of any contingency plans.
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