Despite overhauling their coaching personnel over the summer, the New York Knicks have emerged as bona fide championship contenders heading into 2025-26.
While the most recent Eastern Conference winners, the Indiana Pacers, and the 2024 champion Boston Celtics have seemingly fallen out of the running with Achilles tendon tears to their respective best players — All-NBA Indiana point guard Tyrese Haliburton and All-NBA Celtics power forward Jayson Tatum — New York and the Cleveland Cavaliers appear to have leveled up by default.
The Knicks have also been making some low-key personnel moves to strengthen their bench, as they angle to reach their first NBA Finals since 1999. Last season, they finished with a 51-31 record, the East’s No. 3 record and an Eastern Conference Finals berth. But they’re not satisfied.
New York inked free agent power forward Guerschon Yabusele, fresh off a terrific comeback season with the otherwise-dismal Philadelphia 76ers in 2024-25, to a two-season, $11.3 million taxpayer mid-level exception deal.
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After the Utah Jazz bought him out, 2021 Sixth Man of the Year combo guard Jordan Clarkson agreed to a veteran’s minimum contract with the Knicks.
Both players should tangibly improve the club’s offensive optionality under new head coach Mike Brown, who supplants fellow former two-time Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau.
While Thibodeau leaned heavily on two-time All-NBA Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson to bail the team out with clutch buckets late in shot clocks, Brown is expected to employ a bit more variety in his offensive sets.
Yabusele and Clarkson should help New York’s incumbent top six — Brunson, All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns, All-Defensive wings Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby, guard Josh Hart and center Mitchell Robinson — get a bit of a break, minutes-wise, in 2025-26.
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More recently, the Knicks inked veteran guards Malcolm Brogdon, Landry Shamet and Garrison Mathews to training camp deals.
Because New York only has enough room beneath the league’s $207.8 million second luxury tax apron to sign one of that trio to its 15-man standard roster, Stefan Bondy of The New York Post expects the team will make a trade to free up space and keep at least two of Bordgon, Shamet and Mathews.
“And the only way to create necessary cap space to keep Shamet and Brogdon (or perhaps Garrison Mathews, who is also entering camp on a non-guaranteed deal) is via trade, with sources around the league believing it will happen,” Bondy writes.
3 Key Vets for New York’s Title Bid
All three of these players could add to imbue the Knicks with some deep-bench bang for their buck.
Brogdon, who, like Clarkson, is a recent Sixth Man of the Year (he won in 2023 while with the Boston Celtics), has been shredded by injuries of late, which has greatly affected his market value.
Shamet was fitfully productive when played in meaningful spot minutes during the postseason for New York last year. Mathews, a career 38.2 percent 3-point sharpshooter on 3.9 triple tries per, could be a helpful floor spacer in limited minutes.
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