2025 New York Knicks Preseaon Preview

The Knicks finished 2nd in the Eastern Conference last season with 50 wins and 32 losses and lost in a 7 game series to the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the playoffs. Then they decided to really shake things up.

(AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

This offseason was headlined by the Knicks who made two blockbuster trades, one for Mikal Bridges and one for Karl-Anthony Towns. These two additions will join Jalen Brunson as the marquee names on the new look Knicks.

Brunson earned his first all star appearance last year, as well as All-NBA 2nd team honors and a myriad of votes for MVP, Most Improved Player, and Clutch Player of the Year. The volume scorer put up career highs in FGA, 3PA, and FTA. At times however, he may have been forcing the issue posting the worst effective field goal percentage of the top eight players in terms of field goals attempted. The addition of a spacing big in KAT should help improve his ability to get clean looks close to the rim.

Shots may be hard to come by in New York, however. Last year the Knicks averaged 88.7 FGA per game. Jalen Brunson averaged 21.4, KAT: 15.3, Bridges: 15.8. Between those three that’s almost 60% of the teams shots. Between OG Anunoby’s 11.2 and and Josh Hart’s 8.4 the sum of FGA that the Knicks starting lineup took last season would have accounted for 81% of their projected field goal attempts, leaving only 16.6 shots per game to be distributed between Miles McBride, Landry Shamet, Precious Achiuwa, Cameron Payne, and Jerico Sims. The eventual return of Mitchell Robinson will only increase the demand. Coach Tom Thibodeau may have some tough balancing to achieve between a slate of efficient scorers who might expect their opportunities to increase. It’s a better problem to have than the alternative.