Knicks Notes: Yabusele, Brown, Towns, Dadiet, Giannis
The Knicks are engaged in active talks with multiple teams about big man Guerschon Yabusele, league sources tell Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link). An offseason free agent addition, Yabusele hasn’t been a fit in New York, and multiple reports in recent weeks have indicated the Knicks have made him available.
While his $5.5MM cap hit for 2025/26 is relatively modest, Yabusele’s contract also features a $5.8MM player option for ’26/27, which will make him more difficult to move. Despite the Frenchman’s strong season for Philadelphia in ’24/25, he won’t have positive value on the trade market due to his struggles this season (2.9 PPG, 2.2 RPG, .394/.317/.667 shooting).
Bondy doesn’t specify which teams the Knicks have talked to, but San Antonio has been frequently speculated as a possible landing spot due in large part to the presence of Yabusele’s frontcourt partner on the French national team, Victor Wembanyama.
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- With the Knicks looking to snap a four-game losing streak, head coach Mike Brown acknowledged ahead of Wednesday’s matchup with Brooklyn that some adjustments to the team’s usual game plan were necessary, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. “We’ve made significant changes on both sides of the ball to help them,” Brown told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “All I’m saying is, we didn’t overhaul anything, throwing it out the window, but we’ve made some changes. And like I said before, my staff’s been great, when you go through this you tell your players to look in the mirror. It starts with me, I’ve got to look in the mirror.”
- Although he reported earlier this week that the Knicks have spoken to multiple teams about the possibility of a Karl-Anthony Towns trade, Steve Popper of Newsday (subscription required) stresses that the team absolutely isn’t looking to sell off the star big man for 50 cents on the dollar. Popper suggests that a Knicks deadline deal is more likely to be a less significant one, perhaps involving Yabusele and/or Pacome Dadiet.
- With the Knicks and Bucks both struggling as of late, James L. Edwards III and Eric Nehm of The Athletic consider whether a deal sending Giannis Antetokounmpo to New York is any more viable now than it was last summer, when the two teams reportedly had brief discussions about the idea. Nehm views an in-season Antetokounmpo trade as very unlikely and both writers agree it would be extremely difficult for the Knicks to put together an offer that would hold real appeal for Milwaukee.
- Ahead of a Knicks/Nets matchup on Wednesday, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst takes an in-depth look at the relationship between longtime friends Brown and Brooklyn head coach Jordi Fernandez. After the two men met in 2009, Brown – who was coaching the Cavaliers at the time – arranged for Fernandez to take an internship with the team and to train his son Elijah. Fernandez “practically became an extended member of Brown’s family” during that time, Windhorst writes.
Knicks Notes: Brunson, Meeting, Trade Deadline, Brown, More
Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson called a players-only meeting following Monday’s home loss to injury-depleted Dallas, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
According to Shelburne’s sources, Brunson reiterated that the onus was on the players — not the coaching staff — to find solutions for their struggles over the past few weeks. New York has lost nine of its past 11 games. While the team is still 25-18 and holds the No. 3 seed in the East, it only has a one-and-a-half game lead on the No. 7 Cavs.
Shelburne’s report isn’t surprising, considering what the players said after the game. The Knicks trailed by 28 points at halftime, eventually losing by 17 in a game that was never really competitive.
“We all need to do some soul searching,” Hart said. “Right now we’re playing embarrassing basketball. We’re not executing on the offensive end. Defensively, we’ve been abysmal. We’ve been terrible defensively all year.”
For his part, team captain Brunson expressed confidence in the team’s ability to rediscover the play that resulted in a 23-9 start and an NBA Cup title.
“[Our soul searching] should have started a couple of weeks ago, but we’ve got to start tomorrow,” Brunson said, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscriber link). “We’ve got to figure this out.
“I have the utmost confidence in every person in this room, in this locker room. Just things haven’t gone our way. But we have the ability to do it.”
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- Head coach Mike Brown didn’t mince words about the team’s performance on Monday, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. “They scored 75 points in the first half,” Brown said. “At halftime, we usually do the clips and talk about technical X’s and O’s, all that crap that coaches and teams do. There was nothing to be said at halftime except for ‘Lock in and do your f—ing job.’” Edwards believes the Knicks should “strongly” consider making major changes to the roster ahead of the trade deadline.
- Speaking of the deadline, Fred Katz of The Athletic evaluates five proposals from fans to determine whether the deals make sense for the Knicks or their trade partners. One of the theoretical trades would send Guerschon Yabusele and Pacome Dadiet to San Antonio for Jeremy Sochan in a cost-cutting move. Katz says he personally wouldn’t make the deal and thinks the Knicks are unlikely to as well, though he doesn’t rule it out entirely if they can’t find anything else of value for Yabusele and/or Dadiet.
- In an appearance on NBA Today, Shelburne said the Knicks were not happy with Brown for an incident that took place during Thursday’s loss at Golden State. Draymond Green fouled Karl-Anthony Towns on a post-up and was arguing with an official after the play. Brown, an ex-Warriors assistant who coached Green for six years, evidently found the exchange amusing and the two hugged near the sideline (YouTube link). “That hug did not land well with a lot of folks in New York,” Shelburne said. “In that locker room, in that organization — while you can understand he might have a bond with Draymond Green — I don’t think that landed well.”
- Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News passes along a few more quotes from Monday’s loss.
Knicks Notes: Towns, Hart, Brunson, Brown
Karl-Anthony Towns‘ persistent foul issues continue to be a problem for the slumping Knicks, Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News writes in a subscriber-only story. With the team short-handed due to injuries, it’s important that Towns stay on the court as much as possible. However, with backup center Mitchell Robinson unavailable in Thursday’s game at Golden State due to load management, Towns picked up two early fouls, forcing coach Mike Brown to use a makeshift lineup.
“I don’t know. That’s more of something that you have to figure out individually. Me telling him to not foul seems a little redundant,” Josh Hart said. “He has to be smarter in terms of defensively showing his hands, just being more solid. And I think that’s what it is — being solid, more fundamentally sound. And at times, laying off the officials.”
Towns currently ranks fifth in the league with 136 personal fouls after finishing third in that category last season. Winfield points out that other players who accumulate a lot of fouls tend to be physical defenders, but Towns’ foul trouble is often the result of poor judgment.
“All of our guys — not just KAT — all of our guys have to lead with their chest and show their hands,” Brown said. “The officials allow you out on the floor to hand-check now a little bit, so that’s the time. It’s not just KAT. It’s all of us. It wasn’t just one guy — a whole team. So we gotta do a better job in that area, just in general.”
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- Towns’ regression is the biggest concern since Brown took over as head coach, observes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscription required). Bondy states that Towns is shooting poorly and adjusting slowly and may be in danger of not being selected for the All-Star Game. “It’s a learning process for all of us and we’re just still adjusting and getting used to a new system,” Towns said after Thursday’s game. “Especially me.”
- Hart and Jalen Brunson are both sitting out tonight’s game against Phoenix due to ankle injuries, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). It’s the second straight missed game for Brunson, who sprained his right ankle on Wednesday, and Brown called him “day to day.” (Twitter link). On Hart, who’s dealing with pain in his right ankle, Brown said, “He’s just a little sore so we’re just going to be cautious, especially this time of year.”
- Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post offers a performance review for Brown at the halfway mark of his first season in New York.
Knicks Notes: Hart, Towns, Kolek, NBA Finals Chances
Josh Hart‘s return made the Knicks feel like a more complete team, writes James L. Edwards of The Athletic. Hart was back in the starting lineup in Sunday’s win at Portland, logging 31 minutes and finishing with 18 points, three rebounds and six assists. He told reporters that he considered trying to come back earlier from a right ankle sprain he suffered on Christmas Day, but the lingering pain prevented it.
“My plan, originally, I wanted to come back (for) the Clippers game (on Wednesday),” Hart said. “I learned a day or two before that was not going to happen because of how it was feeling. If we were on a good little run, I probably would have taken a couple more days, couple more games, but I felt like I could come in and help with where I am right now. If I’m banged up a little bit, I go out and play, get the movement, and it helps me heal faster.”
New York had lost five of its previous six games without Hart and slow starts were a recurring problem, with Edwards noting that coach Mike Brown frequently had to call the first timeout of the game. The energy level was noticeably better from the opening tip on Sunday, Edwards adds, as the Knicks improved to 12-3 with Hart as a starter.
“A lot of our guys are irreplaceable, but especially a guy like Josh who does so many little things for you,” Brown said. “Sometimes they don’t even show up in the stat sheet. To have him back is good. To have him back helps with our pace because he gets out and runs, throws it ahead or pushes the ball at an extremely fast pace. We get easy baskets when we play like that.”
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- Karl-Anthony Towns sat out the final 9:24 of the fourth quarter, with Brown explaining that he made the decision to stick with a combination that was working, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. New York outscored Portland 31-20 during that stretch, using either Mitchell Robinson at center or a small-ball lineup. Towns has talked about the challenges of adapting to his new head coach, but Brown said it’s a mutual project. “I’ve said this before: It’s not all on KAT to adjust to and adapt to what we have to do,” Brown said. “He’s had the hardest adjustment period because he’s had to learn the most. In the same breath, I have to make sure that I help him by simplifying what we do and making sure I’m putting him in the right spots and then he’s got to do the things necessary to help out, as well.”
- Hart’s return forced Tyler Kolek out of the rotation, Bondy adds. The second-year guard picked up his first DNP-CD since November 19.
- ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill examines the Knicks’ chances of reaching the NBA Finals, offering three reasons why it could happen and three things that might prevent it.
Knicks Notes: Losing Streak, Brunson, Towns, Dolan, Brown, Yabusele
The Knicks were clobbered by the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons, 121-90, on Monday. Jalen Brunson had a team-high 25 points but no assists while committing six turnovers in the team’s fourth straight loss.
“We just gotta respond. A lot more needs to be said. We keep it internal,” he said, per ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill. “If we want to be the team we say we want to be, we have to be better, simple as that.”
Head coach Mike Brown said the Pistons physically dominated his club.
“It’s pretty simple, they just physically kicked our ass. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it,” he said. “We had 20 turnovers for 33 points. They were into us the whole game. And then for us, we did it in spurts. And versus a team like that, you can’t do it in spurts. It’s got to be 48 minutes. It’s just as simple as that.”
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- Karl-Anthony Towns scored in single digits for the fourth time this season after reaching double digits in all but one game last season under previous coach Tom Thibodeau. Towns is taking fewer shots under Brown’s offensive scheme. “Biggest adjustment is for me. Like Mike said, I make the biggest sacrifice,” Towns told Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “We’re figuring it out. We’ve got a long flight, a practice tomorrow, we’ve got to sit down and figure out who we are and how we want to get back on track.”
- The Knicks got run out of Detroit’s home court almost immediately after owner James Dolan declared the Knicks, as presently constituted, were good enough to win a championship. The owner said he doesn’t anticipate a big move before the trade deadline next month, whether for Giannis Antetokounmpo or somebody else, but a few more performances like Monday’s could alter his thinking, Bondy opines.
- The Knicks are ranked 17th in the league defensively and Brown said “everything is on the table” regarding their defensive schemes, according to The Athletic’s James Edwards III. However, he also downplayed the losing streak to a certain extent. “You have to keep a perspective on it because you’re going to have ups and downs,” he said. “I’ve said this many times, ‘It’s not going to be just like this.’ When you do go down, you hope it’s not three, four or five games. That’s where we are now, but it’s not time to panic. We do have to make sure we are doing what we can do to help this group. Our guys have to try and take it to another level as a group, and not try to do too much, but take it to another level as a group in other areas.”
- Free agent pickup Guerschon Yabusele continues to play sparingly in his fourth season in the league. He’s highly motivated to exercise his $5.8MM option on next year’s deal, rather than returning to Europe, BasketNews.com relays. “If you play three years in the NBA, you get a lifetime pension. After four seasons, medical expenses are covered for life,” Yabusele told a French YouTuber. “And after five years, the medical coverage is extended to the entire family. I want to play for five years here in the NBA so that my family can benefit from that lifetime care. You never know what can happen in life.”
Central Notes: Cavs, Jenkins, Brown, Bickerstaff, Potter
Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson is mulling rotation changes after his second unit was gouged by the Pistons in a four-point loss on Sunday, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reports. Detroit staged a second-quarter rally and led the rest of the way.
“We gotta look at it,” Atkinson said when asked about some of the lineups used in the second quarter. “Obviously, wasn’t the right combination. Obviously, the bench play hurt us (Sunday).”
The second unit provided a spark last season, led by Ty Jerome, who signed with Memphis during the offseason. The Cavs have the NBA’s fourth least-productive bench this season.
“Maybe we keep two of our stars out there at the same time,” Atkinson said. “We’ve gotta help them. We started Sam (Merrill) tonight and that obviously hurts the bench, so we just gotta figure it out. It’s definitely, definitely hurting us in those minutes.”
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Pistons two-way guard Daniss Jenkins fell one point short of the franchise record for points scored in a second quarter on Sunday. Jenkins racked up 21 points in those 12 minutes, making all seven of his field goal attempts, including six three-pointers. Jenkins also closed out the game with four free throws. Jenkins’ 21-point quarter was the highest scoring by a bench player in franchise history. “He was unbelievable,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said, per Coty Davis of the Detroit News. “It’s the trust factor, we talk about it all the time. We have 18 guys on our roster that we believe in. We have 18 guys who we believe can help us win when we put them in the game. They know how to play Pistons’ basketball. They play unselfishly. They play with a high spirit. They have the confidence to go out and do what it takes to get it done.” Jenkins is a prime candidate to eventually receive a standard contract.
- Knicks head coach Mike Brown used to babysit Bickerstaff, James Edwards III of The Athletic reveals. They now coach the top two teams in the East. The Knicks and Pistons will square off for the first time since their playoff matchup last season on Monday. “He was strict,” Bickerstaff said. “He had a great way of making things fun but always organized and detailed. There weren’t going to be things that were missed, and he was scared to death of my dad (longtime NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff). He wasn’t going to let anything happen to me.”
- Micah Potter, who signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Pacers late last month, was one of the 12 players named to the USA Select Team in June 2024 that scrimmaged against Team USA in Las Vegas prior to the Paris Olympics. He was also one of three players who stuck with the team as practice players through its July exhibition tour, an unforgettable experience for the big man. “That was the, hands down, coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Potter told Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “I had no idea that was gonna happen until my agent called me out of the blue. Going into that kind of environment — Kevin Durant said it’s the greatest team he’s ever played on, and so with that, you could argue it’s the greatest team ever assembled which is incredible. You go down the list and look at the names and it’s incredible. So being in that kind of an environment, you see how those kinds of guys prepare, right? You see how they approach the game, mentally and physically. It’s one of those things where you go into that environment — and I ended up playing, which is nuts too, getting on the floor with all of them — you learn to gain confidence.”
Spurs’ Johnson, Celtics’ Mazzulla Named Coaches Of The Month
Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson is December’s Coach of the Month in the Western Conference, while Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics is the Eastern Conference recipient of the award, the NBA announced today (Twitter link).
Johnson guided the Spurs to an 11-3 record in December, not including the NBA Cup final, which doesn’t count toward the regular season standings. San Antonio’s big month, which included three separate victories over the defending champion Thunder, occurred despite Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle each missing multiple games due to injuries.
In addition to posting the NBA’s best record for the month, the Spurs also had the fifth-best offensive rating (118.9) and sixth-ranked defensive rating (112.0), which helped earn Johnson Coach of the Month recognition over fellow nominees David Adelman (Nuggets), Mark Daigneault (Thunder), and Chris Finch (Timberwolves), per the league (Twitter link).
As for Mazzulla’s Celtics, they ranked eighth in the East entering December, but finished the month as the No. 3 seed in the conference after going 9-3.
Even without perennial All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum, Boston had the NBA’s best offensive rating (124.3) and second-best net rating (+11.0) in December en route to wins over the Knicks, Lakers, and Raptors (twice), among others.
J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons, Mike Brown of the Knicks, and Jordi Fernandez of the Nets were also nominated for the award.
Daigneault and Bickerstaff earned the monthly honor for games played in October and November.
Knicks Notes: Shamet, Robinson, McBride, Towns, Lineups
The Knicks received some minor good news heading into the new year. According to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (via Twitter), reserve guard/wing Landry Shamet has started doing some on-court work as he works his way back from the right shoulder sprain that has sidelined him since November 22.
Shamet has yet to start contact training, but says his rehab process has gone well so far, Edwards adds. The 28-year-old had the option of rehab or surgery and chose the former.
Newsday’s Steve Popper confirms the update (Twitter link), adding that Shamet said dealing with a shoulder injury and rehab last season helped prepare him for this one.
Shamet was playing some of the best basketball of his career at the start of this season. He averaged 9.3 points per game, tied for his career high, while shooting 42.4% on three-pointers in 20.9 minutes per night, the most he has played since the 2020/21 season. He had become a valuable part of coach Mike Brown‘s rotation before the injury derailed his season.
We have more from the Knicks:
- Mitchell Robinson will miss two games in the next four days as he continues to deal with injury load management, but he has experienced no setbacks, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. Bondy writes that, in addition to missing Wednesday’s game against the Spurs, the plan is for Robinson to play in one of the back-to-back games the Knicks will play on Friday and Saturday. Brown was quick to shut down any notion that Robinson re-injured the ankle that has given him issues in the past. “It’s all load management,” Brown said. “If you look at our schedule [it’s been hectic], I was complaining about it maybe a little too much. We’re just trying to be smart with it.” Ariel Hukporti, who saw increased minutes in the Knicks’ last game with Robinson out, is questionable to play on Wednesday due to a mouth laceration, which could open up time for Trey Jemison.
- Miles McBride was a rookie when Ray Allen came to Madison Square Garden to witness Stephen Curry break his all-time three-point record. During that game, Allen gave the young guard some advice that changed his entire shooting style, Bondy writes. “‘Get more elevation,”‘ Allen told him, according to McBride. “He said, ‘In the 15 minutes pregame, I work out hard. You can’t flip it on and off.’ Those type of things stick with me.” McBride added that he had always elevated on his mid-range shots, so doing the same thing from three made sense and eliminated the fear of getting the shot blocked. After struggling with his shot during his first two seasons, McBride has made 39.7% of more than 700 three-point attempts over the past three seasons.
- Brown believes that there’s “no question” that Karl-Anthony Towns is an All-Star this season, per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. “KAT’s averaging a double-double. He’s over 20 points a game and over 10 rebounds a game,” Brown said. “And if you’re a top-three team in either conference and you’re the second-leading scorer — [and] the leading rebounder — you’re an All-Star. There’s no question about it. The only question is: Is he first, second, or third team All-NBA, you know?” Towns has dealt with an uncharacteristically cold shooting spell this season (his .476 FG% is a career low), but has managed to impact the team in many ways while undergoing a dramatic role change in Brown’s offensive system.
- Brown’s lineup experimentation has proved incredibly effective, especially while the team deals with injuries, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic. Young, unproven players like Tyler Kolek, Kevin McCullar Jr., and Mohamed Diawara have all had monster games that helped seal wins of late, and the players credit Browns’ open-mindedness for keeping them in the headspace to succeed. “Knowing that you’re flowing, playing, now it gives you even more energy, because now you’re like, you feel like you contribute, whatever, knowing you might get called,” Mikal Bridges said. “So, it’s just a different energy for the bench and especially when we make runs and stuff, if there’s 10 guys that play, nine guys that play, everybody is so juiced up. … If (you) played three minutes, if (you) played four minutes just as that low man to help blitz — you did something.” The Knicks’ bench was considered a weakness coming into the season, but with internal growth from Kolek and Brown’s constant tinkering, the team has found ways to win on the margins, thanks, in part, to that depth.
Knicks Notes: Diawara, Towns, Bridges, Brown, Robinson
Mohamed Diawara lasted until the No. 51 pick in June, which the Knicks acquired from the Clippers. The French forward admitted to James Edwards III of The Athletic that he was unsure if anyone would take him despite some positive feedback in pre-draft workouts.
“I didn’t know at all,” Diawara said. “I was hoping to get drafted but I had no clue if I would at all. I worked out with 13 teams. The feedback was pretty good. I did a lot of good workouts. I feel like I showed a lot of stuff to other teams. I felt confident that I wouldn’t regret anything.”
Diawara has been a pleasant surprise and made his biggest impact this season in a five-point win over New Orleans on Monday, contributing 18 points and two steals in 18 minutes in a starting role. Diawara is currently on a one-year contract and will be a restricted free agent after the season.
“His feel for the game is uncanny for someone his size and how young he is,” coach Mike Brown said. “Everything you try to teach him, he tries to absorb it. He works extremely hard. He’s long and a pretty good defender. He’s getting better. There are a lot of little things you watch and go, ‘Wow, oh my gosh.’ All of those things, when they add up, it gives you more confidence as a coaching staff to throw him out there and see what’s going to happen.”
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- Karl-Anthony Towns wants to be an All-Star but he’d like to play for the World team under the new format in the annual event, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post reports. Towns was born and raised in the United States but has represented his mother’s native country, Dominican Republic, in international competitions, including the 2023 World Cup.
- Mikal Bridges and Brown have had some long discussions and the forward feels a bond with his coach, Bondy writes. “I think we had some meetings and talked to each other and stuff. I think honestly right now is probably the most I’ve been close with Mike. I think right now, honestly, to this day,” Bridges said. “Just have some good conversations, talk to each other. And just picking his brain, hear what he’s thinking and me voicing some things. Kind of get that clarity from your coach. Because you never know what’s going on — playing hard and just talking to him, what he’s thinking about our team and stuff. I think we had a pretty good talk before Christmas, and I think our relationship is just — it was always fine. But I think it’s definitely going up.” Bridges signed a four-year, $150MM extension in August.
- Mitchell Robinson will miss his second straight game on Wednesday against San Antonio due to left ankle injury management, Edwards tweets. Robinson hasn’t suffered a setback but the team is being cautious due to a heavy schedule recently. Josh Hart (right ankle sprain) and Landry Shamet (right shoulder sprain) remain out as well.
Knicks Notes: Banner, Hart, Brown, Robinson, Kolek
The Bucks and Lakers raised banners in their arenas after winning the first two NBA Cups in 2023 and 2024, and head coach Mike Brown told his players prior to the 2025 final on Tuesday that the Knicks would do the same if they won.
However, the team has reversed course on that plan, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post, who reports that the Knicks won’t hang a banner for this year’s NBA Cup championship after all. A league source tells Bondy that the decision was made because the Knicks are “focused on the bigger picture.”
The team will still celebrate winning the in-season tournament before Friday’s home game against Philadelphia, Bondy writes.
Here’s more on the NBA Cup champs:
- The Knicks have won nine of 10 games since reinserting Josh Hart into their starting five. As Vincent Goodwill of ESPN writes, Brown referred to a November meeting between him and Hart as an important turning point. “I was open and honest,” the Knicks’ head coach said. “He hadn’t played a lot in the preseason because he got hurt early on, so I didn’t have a great feel for how to use him, when to use him, what his game was completely like.” Brown added that Hart took accountability for not playing up to his usual standard early in the season and said the candor in that meeting helped their relationship grow.
- While Brown was focused early in the season on implementing his own offensive system, rival coaches believe he has pushed those changes less aggressively as of late and has been more inclined to simply let his players do what they do best, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. “The first 10 or 12 games, it felt like they were running more,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said. “Now, it seems like they’re settling into personnel. They’re playing a little bit more to the strengths of their main players, but at the same time try to implement ball movement and body movement. Obviously, they’re a very talented team, so it’s the right thing to do to focus on the strengths of those guys and let them be who they are.”
- OG Anunoby (28 points) and Jalen Brunson (25) were the Knicks’ top scorers in Tuesday’s NBA Cup victory, but a handful of reserves provided crucial contributions off the bench. Bondy of The New York Post singles out center Mitchell Robinson, who racked up 10 offensive rebounds in just 18 minutes of action, while Jared Schwartz of The New York Post takes a look at the contributions the team is getting from second-year guard Tyler Kolek, whose 14 points and five rebounds on Tuesday would be career highs if the game had counted toward the regular season.
- In case you missed it, we wrote earlier today about the Knicks players who benefited most from the $531K bonus for winning the NBA Cup.