Knicks Have Decade’s Most Underrated Players

We're halfway through the 2020s, five years that have been defined by parity and well-distributed talent scattering all 30 teams. The New York Knicks have been no exception.

Fringe All-Stars and high-quality role players are everywhere with those with the eyes to see them, and Bleacher Report donated a recent article to shouting out some of the most proficient players within that mold of winning contributor who lacks proportionate accolades and league-wide recognition.

Dan Favale ran through five of the most underrated players through the first half of the decade, whittling the list down to players who've averaged at least 60 appearances per season and eliminating anyone who's gotten any major award buzz over that time.

The Knicks saw several familiar faces represented, with the ever-hustling mini-forward Josh Hart earning a nod alongside his former teammate, championship-winning Oklahoma City center Isaiah Hartenstein.

Hart, one of the Knicks' most recognizable presences ever since they took the shift into contending mode, barely out-ranked the former New Yorker Hartenstein by seizing the No.3 spot on the list. Hart's game isn't the flashiest, with Favale running through shortcomings that include his "high-hesitance, low-efficiency three-point shot, but the impact he's made on the team over two and a half abbreviated seasons has been undeniable.

"Scrapping and clawing on the glass, juicing the team's offensive pace (especially after rebounds), putting pressure on the basket, the passing in transition, semi-transition and out of drives, defending across three and sometimes four positions—it all matters. These are the in-game elements that help mold an entire team's identity," Favale wrote.

He's willing to give the veteran the benefit of the doubt for what can be classified as last season's "down year," with the Eastern Conference Finalists playing better without his services in 2024-25.

While he wasn't as necessary as usual last spring, the departed Hartenstein's winning habits went missed. He immediately won a championship ring upon filling into a similar role with the Thunder, providing as only he can in an even more talented lineup.

"He does everything from pancaking defenders on screens and crashing the glass; to protecting the hoop, guarding in space and blitzing ball-handlers; to facilitating out of short rolls and swishing patented floaters," Favale wrote. "He would have an All-Defense selection under his belt by now if he logged more minutes, and he's 10th in Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) among everyone who's averaged at least 20 minutes per game without making an All-Star team."

The Knicks, after spending the first two decades of the 21st century watching their peers thrive from their abilities to churn out quality supplementary players, have finally gotten in on the game. It's no coincidence that they've appeared in eight playoff series in the 2020s, qualifying for the postseason twice as often as they've missed it, with their fingerprints laying all across some of the NBA's most respected role players.