With reports of Kevin Durant potentially leaving the Golden State Warriors to join the lowly New York Knicks and leave his mark on the Big Apple, it begs the question — what will the starting five for the Knicks look like next season?
Let’s imagine Durant comes to New York – an immediate starter and the Knicks secure the top lottery pick and snag Zion Williamson at No. 1.
Durant can play a variety of positions including small forward, shooting guard, and power forward, while Williamson is primarily a forward that spends a majority of his time around the paint. Throw in Mitchell Robinson at center and you already have three dynamic player makers, two of which are part of the youth core.
At point guard, we can imagine either Kyrie Irving or Dennis Smith Jr. and his tremendous athleticism. However, if Kyrie joins Durant in his quest to bring success to New York, it will only make the depth at the point guard position that much more strengthened.
How would the New York Knicks utilize Kevin Knox in this scenario?
Theoretically, Williamson could play small forward while Knox plays in his comfortable role at power forward. However, I much prefer Zion as the power man in the paint over Knox – the talent differential is extensive despite Knox being the Knicks’ 2018 first-round selection.
I would imagine Knox either comes off the bench or adapts to a small forward role.
One interesting player that could fill the shooting guard position is Danny Green. He shot 45.3% from beyond the arch in 2018, returning to his former self and proving he can be valuable on offense.
What could the Knicks’ starting five look like at the end of the day?
Given every optimistic player signing goes through, the Knicks could be impressive to start the season:
PG: Kyrie Irving
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Zion Williamson
SG: Danny Green
C: Mitchell Robinson
That’s quite the lineup – one I’d very much like to see in the Mecca after years of disappointing performances.