The New York Knicks positioned themselves to be contenders in the NBA’s Eastern Conference for several years to come, and as a result, one recent ranking touted New York as a franchise with a promising three-year window to potentially capture a championship.
The Knicks are amidst a promising championship window
The Knicks are coming off of a 2023–24 NBA campaign in which they earned a 50-32 record, good for No. 2 overall in the east. They added to their already formidable roster by taking on an impact player in rising star Mikal Bridges, and fortified their bench with talent at the backup point guard and backup combo forward slots where they had need.
When looking ahead, New York has the potential to upset the apple cart in their respective conference and contend for a title within the next three years. Albeit, some of the moves they were required to make in order to upgrade their roster forced them to relinquish assets that could have strengthened their case even further at the tail end of the stretch in question.
Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale published a power ranking for every NBA team’s three-year window. He placed the Knicks at No.8 among all teams, citing All-Star Jalen Brunson and Bridges as two of the biggest movers and shakers that can fuel them to an even more successful season in 2024-25, but weighed in the balance the haul of draft picks that team President Leon Rose had to give up in order to acquire the latter. Favale justified his Knicks placement by saying this in part:
“Is Randle’s shot creation more important now that New York has cashed in most of its draft-pick stockpile for someone who doesn’t count that as their calling card? If so, will his strengths finally scale to the postseason? And will he definitely be around beyond next year (2025-26 player option)?” Favale posed.
“Make no mistake, the Knicks are immediately in contention for biggest-Eastern-Conference-threat-to-Boston honors. But their path to continued improvement from here is more challenging without any blue-chip prospects or tantalizing trade assets left in the tank.”
Will Knicks’ deficiencies keep them from title contention in the short term?
It is a truth that the Knickerbockers do, indeed have several questions hovering around their franchise, heading into next season. While Jalen Brunson has taken the reins as their new franchise player, in actuality, the Knicks will only go as far as Julius Randle takes them. The reason being, Brunson has given the NBA world a healthy enough sample size of what he’s capable of producing in the playoffs and leaves little room to doubt his reliability and efficiency when the stakes increase. However, Randle has had repeated blunders in the postseason and is coming off of a dislocated shoulder that robbed him of 36 games to end the NBA season last time around.
It is beyond the anomaly to see an NBA team capture the Larry O’Brien trophy without having a legitimate No. 2 option come through without fail over the course of their entire championship run. It may be premature to call Bridges a surefire No. 2 option on a championship team, so Randle will have to take his game to another level starting next season and prove that consistently for the next three years for the Knicks to have as good of a shot to take home a title within that span.
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Outside of the Kentucky product’s 24 points per game that earned him another All-Star nod in 2023-24 and how effective that gaudy scoring line truly is, the Knicks will also need to ensure that they have the bodies and the versatility necessary to succeed in the pick-and-roll and in the interior at the center position. Mitchell Robinson gave the Knicks everything they could’ve hoped for but only when he was on the floor.
When he wasn’t in the lineup, Isaiah Hartenstein replicated his production and then some. No matter, Hartenstein is no longer with the franchise next to backups Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims. The Knicks may need more fortification down low, and the same could be said pertaining to another playmaker, regardless of position, who can find their own shot and get others involved.
How the Knicks’ draft picks will dictate their attractiveness in the trade market
Seeing that the Knicks gave up five first-round draft picks in order to trade for Bridges, their three-year window will be heavily predicated on the players they have at their disposal at the moment. Further, unloading such a wealth of stock will also tie their hands to an extent in the amount of groundbreaking trades they can execute within that span. Nonetheless, the Knicks are still a relatively young team at their core and have a great chance to win it all before the 2026-27 season concludes.
They came in behind teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers (No. 7), Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 6), and Oklahoma City Thunder (No. 1). It can be debated that they deserved higher placement on the list. But all in all, New York does have flexibility. They could look to trade Julius Randle for an impact player and draft capital, but the troops they have ready to go will determine their success or lack thereof beginning when the 2024-25 season commences on Oct 22.
