How Free Agency Has Changed the Knicks' Title Chances

The New York Knicks have had a relatively quiet offseason amid what’s been an explosive summer of transactions around the NBA.

The Knicks’ biggest move was letting Mitchell Robinson walk and signing Andre Drummond to a minimum deal in his stead. That could be considered a serious downgrade, although an optimist would argue that Drummond could be, say, 75% as good as Robinson while costing a fifth of the price.

Meanwhile, New York also managed to bring back key players on long, cap-friendly deals, which gives the Knicks every right to be the favorite once again to come out of the Eastern Conference.

The Knicks' bet on chemistry and consistency is a good one

The common complaint during last year’s regular season was the Knicks’ lack of cohesion and consistency. Yes, the Knicks won 53 games, their most since 2012-13, but they could look like a different team from week to week, night to night, even quarter to quarter.

Then, down 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, something suddenly clicked for the team. From that point on, New York won 13 straight playoff games and went 15-1 en route to a championship, breaking the record for postseason point differential in the process. It was one of the greatest runs in NBA history.

Rotations and roles seemed to crystallize for Mike Brown and the team: less time on-ball for Jalen Brunson, more “hub” action for Karl-Anthony Towns, more touches for OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, increased bench minutes for Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado.

The defense locked into place, all five players on a string, regardless of who was out there. The Knicks undoubtedly rode individual hot streaks over that postseason stretch — look at Bridges’ and Shamet’s shooting splits in the Eastern Conference Finals — but the long-awaited cohesion fans had been waiting for suddenly emerged.

In bringing back nine of their top 10 players, the Knicks are betting that that chemistry will carry over into next season.

Indeed, from afar, it’s reasonable to envision the Knicks riding some of that momentum into the regular season. The players have more familiarity with each other. Roles and minutes should be easier to accommodate for Brown. The Knicks can arguably go 10-deep in their rotation, giving Brown numerous in-game options while keeping his best players’ overall minutes low.

Not much should change on-court for the Knicks this season, beyond the addition of Drummond. As of now, he’s slated to play a significant role as the primary backup to Towns, but if his minutes stay on the lower side, he should be capable of holding down the fort.

Had players like Shamet and Alvarado left in free agency, it’s doubtful the Knicks would have been able to replace them with better players. The Knicks were able to keep them under contract (along with Jordan Clarkson and Mohamed Diawara), making a bet that the growth this team showed in the postseason will continue on next regular season. 

Barring major injuries, the Knicks should make it their goal to win 55-plus games and secure a top-two seed.

The state of the East is muddied

Early last season, the Eastern Conference was the laughingstock of the NBA. Now it is widely regarded as a deep and improving conference.

That much is true, but it’s still unclear who will be considered the top challengers to the Knicks. As of now, many of the top teams still face major questions that New York does not.

The Detroit Pistons have added shooting and wing depth this offseason, but they also traded Isaiah Stewart, have not yet re-signed Jalen Duren (unless Detroit gives him the max, it’s easy to imagine hurt feelings over his contract if/when he does return), and have not added a secondary creator to ease the burden on Cade Cunningham.

The Boston Celtics still have the pieces and formula to win lots of regular-season games, and the addition of Robinson bolsters a shaky center rotation. But it’s unclear how Jayson Tatum will fare in his first full season back from his Achilles tear (recall that he didn’t play Game 7 of the Sixers series), and the swap of Jaylen Brown for Paul George will hurt in the playoffs.

The Philadelphia 76ers boast an incredible top seven. But Joel Embiid’s health will always be a concern, and their depth is still a problem. The Sixers ran out of gas in last year’s playoffs, and the Knicks’ convincing four-game sweep of Philly shows the Sixers have a lot of ground to make up.

The Indiana Pacers have a deep, formidable roster, but must first ease Tyrese Haliburton back into action in his return from an Achilles tear. It also remains to be seen if the Pacers’ role players can shift back into the gear they found in the 2025 playoffs after slogging through a 19-win season last year.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, like the 76ers, boast strong top-end talent, but they did not play the Knicks particularly closely in the Eastern Conference Finals. This team seems more than LeBron James away from making the Finals.

Outside of those teams, it takes a leap of faith to see teams like the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks, or Miami — talented though they may all be — making the leap to championship contention so quickly.

This isn’t to say that these teams can’t beat the Knicks. The playoffs don’t begin in October. There is a whole season to go, and injuries, trades, and other unpredictable events can shift playoff series.

This is simply to say that the other would-be contenders in the East face more questions, more uncertainty, and have more to prove than the Knicks. 

In essentially running back a championship squad, the Knicks are making a bet that one of the all-time dominant playoff runs was a sign of things to come. It's a wise gamble on familiarity being an advantage against a conference that's undergone some big shakeups.