Knicks starting 5 ranked in the top 10 by Bleacher Report

“On paper, this looks like an elite starting lineup featuring two All-Star starters with some premier defenders stacked between them,” Swartz wrote. “Unfortunately, the New York Knicks were only mildly defeating other teams with their starting lineup (plus-4.1 net rating), largely due to a leaky defense that allowed 115.8 points per 100 possessions.

“We’ll see if new head coach Mike Brown experiments with two-big starting lineups that feature Mitchell Robinson at center in an atte mpt to fix the defense. This would mean bumping Josh Hart to the bench, a tactic we saw at times in the 2025 playoffs.”

The Knicks have issues to fix next season

The Knicks briefly tried a double-big lineup with Towns and Mitchell Robinson in the frontcourt during the Eastern Conference Finals, but they were unable to get past the Indiana Pacers and lost in six games.

Under Mike Brown, the expectation is that they will feature a lot of five-out lineups, which wouldn’t bode well for Robinson to stay in the starting five. Brown’s philosophy heavily emphasizes floor spacing, which the Knicks would get using last year’s starting five.

Nevertheless, the group has to perform better defensively for it to work. They showed that they can score in bunches, but they gave up way too many on the other end. If they can fix those issues, they could be one of the most dangerous starting fives in the entire league.