The 2023-24 NBA season has been a breakout campaign for New York Knicks guard Miles McBride. Coming into the season, he was buried on the depth chart as the third point guard behind Jalen Brunson and Immanuel Quickley.
At about the midway point of the season, McBride received his first opportunity to play regular minutes in the rotation. The Knicks completed a blockbuster trade with the Toronto Raptors, trading away RJ Barrett and Quickley and bringing back OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn.
Flynn has experience in NBA rotations, but it was McBride who head coach Tom Thibodeau was giving the first crack opportunity to be Brunson’s new backup. It turned out to be a great decision, as McBride has turned into an irreplaceable part of the team’s rotation.
McBride has seen his role grow exponentially over the last few weeks as the team navigates several injuries to key players. When Anunoby went back to the sidelines after returning for three games, it was McBride whom Thibodeau called upon to replace Anunoby in the starting five.
In those starts, and overall this season, McBride has taken his production to another level. As shared by Tommy Beer on X, he is on pace to have one of the most productive seasons in Knicks franchise history.
McBride is on pace to become just the fourth Knicks player to attempt 200+ 3-pointers in an NBA season and connect on at least 42 percent of those attempts while shooting at least 85 percent from the foul line. The other players to accomplish this feat are Allan Houston, Steve Novak and Hubert Davis.
McBride is right at the 42 percent number, as he has connected on 41.8 percent to this point. His free throw shooting remains strong, as he is making 86 percent of his attempts from the charity stripe.
The shooting improvements he has shown have been quite spectacular. In his first two seasons in the NBA, McBride was a liability on offense as he shot 28.2 percent from 3-point range and 66.7 percent from the foul line.
A stellar defender, McBride could earn spot minutes with his performance defensive alone. Now, he is a legitimate two-way contributor, someone that opponents cannot leave alone on offense while still providing high-level performance defensively.
The three-year, $13 million extension he signed earlier this season will be a steal for the Knicks. That is a fraction of what players in the NBA would normally cost that is as productive as McBride has been this season.
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