Throughout the 2023-24 NBA regular season, the New York Knicks have had several unsung heroes. Given the number of injuries they have had to navigate to key rotation players, guys who would normally not receive as many minutes have been thrust into larger roles.
One of those players has been guard Miles McBride. McBride entered the season as the third point guard on the depth chart, playing sporadically in blowouts or if someone missed a game for a nagging injury. But, that changed when the Knicks made a blockbuster trade with the Toronto Raptors.
Part of the motivation for making the deal, which included sending RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley out of town, was to free up minutes for McBride. The backup point guard spot behind Jalen Brunson was his for the taking.
While his role was still growing, you could see McBride brimming with confidence. On the court, he was becoming more aggressive looking for his spots on offense while continuing to play an elite level of defense.
When his number was called to start in place of Brunson, his numbers improved every game. With that, the confidence of head coach Tom Thibodeau to deploy him regularly also increased, which has led us to the point we are currently at.
McBride is now in the starting lineup in place of OG Anunoby. Thibodeau is doing something people have clamored for him to do for a while and he just hasn’t done; go small with his lineups to create mismatches. To this point, the results have been magnificent as McBride is taking to his new role.
On Wednesday against the Raptors, McBride made his 10th start of the season. It was a memorable one, as he tied his career-high with 29 points scored, knocking down a career-high nine 3-pointers.
It was a punctuation mark on what has been an incredible stretch for McBride. As shared by Tommy Beer on X, McBride is averaging 18.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals in per game in his 10 starts. He is making 3.8 3-pointers per game, with a shooting split of 48/42/88.
That puts him in some rare air. According to Beer, there is only one other player in the NBA this season who is averaging 18+ points with 3+ 3-pointers at that efficient of shooting numbers; Golden State Warriors star, Stephen Curry.
Any time a player is accomplishing something that only Curry is doing, that player is doing something right. McBride is playing at an incredibly high level, raising the floor and ceiling of the Knicks.
What makes McBride’s performance all the more impressive is that he is doing it while guarding the top perimeter assignment. For everything incredible that Curry does on offense, he isn’t playing defense on the same level as McBride, who has turned into a legitimate 2-way player.
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