In today’s NBA, the only thing tougher than winning a championship is defending one. The Knicks‘ front office worked to nearly wholly return their winning roster from last season, but as age, injury and finances make their impact, they’ll need new blood to step up in the coming campaign.
Here are the three Knicks whose roles are likeliest to grow this season, as New York pursues the first repeat in recent NBA history.
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OG Anunoby
The only lynchpin on this list, Anunoby should still see a sizable change in responsibility from last season given how much his game blossomed during the championship run. He was the third leading scorer on the team at 16.7 points a night with modest efficiency during the regular season, but he rose to over 20 points per game, finishing second to only Jalen Brunson during the postseason.
Not only did he score more, but did so with ridiculous accuracy and major confidence in his isolation game. Head coach Mike Brown has suggested giving him more pick-and-rolls this season in response.
Not only that, but Brown noted he will play more small-ball center as well, a necessity given the Knicks’ newfound dearth at the position. With all this lined up, Anunoby should follow up a career-best playoffs with a career-best regular season.
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Mohamed Diawara
New York’s most intriguing prospect, the 6-foot-9 incoming sophomore was a pleasant surprise during his rookie campaign, but wasn’t a rotation option for the big playoff run. Things should change materially this season as the Knicks aren’t entering the season with a veteran at his position, and need more frontcourt contributions in a guard-heavy lineup.
The front office and coaching staff will also want to give Diawara real opportunities given how effective he was last year and New York’s lack of developmental projects. It took giving him spot minutes and seeing some results before he could break the rotation for a decent stretch — this time he’s at least starting on first base.
While it may be expected for Diawara to have serious regular season contributions, the big question for 2026-27 will be can he prove himself to be reliable come the postseason? He’s shown flashes of guarding elite players and hitting big shots, but he’ll need to have a big year to make his mark in April and May.
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Tyler Kolek
One formula the Knicks fell back on often in a pinch last season was playing Brunson next to another ball handler. In their miraculous Game 4 comeback during the NBA Finals, it was Jose Alvarado, but before acquiring him at the trade deadline, Kolek had a similar performance against the very same team in the NBA Cup Championship Game.
With Jordan Clarkson moving to more of a wing role and Alvarado being the only other ball handler, last year’s NBA Cup likely won’t be the last time we see Kolek inserted in a big moment. He had a solid regular season in 2025-26 and has a team option for 2027-28, making this year an inflection point on if he sticks around long-term or not.
Brown will also want to once again maximize experimentation and minimize his starters’ load ahead of another deep postseason run, so it may not even take injury or circumstance for Kolek to find real minutes. Can he make the most of them?
