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Knicks Notes: Team Building, Brunson, Brown, Hart, Workouts

By | at May 26, 2026 8:18 pm

The Knicks are patiently awaiting the NBA Finals after sweeping Cleveland. How did they finally turn into a Finals team? The Athletic’s Fred Katz takes an in-depth look at that topic.

Some of the key moments included trading Kristaps Porzingis, which gave them future flexibility, deciding not to trade away assets for Jalen Brunson before they signed him as a free agent, and the subsequent deals for Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart.

The New York Daily News’ Peter Sblendorio, meanwhile, details how the Knicks’ 2022 bet on Brunson has paid major dividends.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

  • Brunson could join a very exclusive club if the Knicks go on to win the NBA championship, Vincent Goodwill of ESPN notes. Only two players 6’2” or under have been the undisputed headliners of their teams and led them to a championship. Isiah Thomas and Stephen Curry have done it and Brunson is now four wins away from becoming a member of that group.
  • Mike Brown wasn’t the Knicks’ top choice to replace Tom Thibodeau but his strategies and adjustments have proven his skeptics wrong, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post writes, Brown has been fired four times since 2010 but now sits four wins away from joining Red Holzman as the only other Knicks head coach with an NBA championship. “Our business is funny. In my previous job [with the Kings], I supposedly took them to a point that was higher and it didn’t work out,” Brown said. “I truly felt these Knicks were an NBA Finals team. I felt we had a true opportunity. Some jobs you take, you say, ‘OK, we’ll get better and we have to make the playoffs right now.’ But this one, I felt we legitimately had a chance if we could help them figure it out and the players can stay together during the process. Especially when we hit adversity. Because we hit adversity at different parts in this season. Not just us as a whole group, but even guys individually and myself as well. I did have that belief from day one.”
  • Hart was acquired from the Trail Blazers for Cam Reddish, Svi Mykhailiuk and guard Ryan Arcidiacono along with a first-round pick. That trade turned out to be a huge reason why the Knicks are now the Eastern Conference champions, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post opines.
  • The Knicks hosted six draft prospects on Tuesday — Arkansas’ Meleek Thomas, Baylor’s Tounde Yessoufou, USF’s Izaiyah Nelson, BYU’s Keba Keita, Missouri’s Mark Mitchell and Akron’s Amani Lyles, according to SNY’s Ian Begley (Twitter links). Thomas and Yessoufou are the most intriguing names in that group, as Thomas is ranked No. 25 overall by ESPN and Yessoufou is ranked No. 34. Ugonna Onyenso, a seven-foot center who played last season at Virginia, has a workout scheduled with the Knicks this weekend, Bondy tweets. He is ranked No. 43 overall by ESPN. The Knicks have the 24th, 31st and 55th picks in the upcoming draft.
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NBA Announces 73 Invitees For 2026 Draft Combine

By | at May 1, 2026 10:54 am

The NBA announced today (via Twitter) that 73 prospects have been invited to attend this year’s draft combine, which will take place in Chicago from May 10-17.

In addition to those 73 players, a handful of standout players from the G League combine, which is also held in Chicago just before the combine begins, are expected to receive invites to stick around for the main event.

Not all of the prospects invited to the combine will end up remaining in the 2026 draft pool, since many are early entrants who are testing the waters while retaining their NCAA eligibility.

College players must withdraw from the draft by the end of the day on May 27 if they wish to preserve that eligibility, while non-college players face a decision deadline of June 13. The feedback they receive from NBA teams at the combine may be a deciding factor for players who are on the fence.

Here’s the list of players who have been invited to the 2026 draft combine:

(Note: For players in international leagues, the country listed is where they had been playing, not necessarily where they’re from.)

  1. Matt Able, G, North Carolina State (freshman)
  2. Darius Acuff, G, Arkansas (freshman)
  3. Amari Allen, F, Alabama (freshman)
  4. Nate Ament, F, Tennessee (freshman)
  5. Christian Anderson, G, Texas Tech (sophomore)
  6. Tobe Awaka, F, Arizona (senior)
  7. Flory Bidunga, F/C, Kansas (sophomore)
  8. Tyler Bilodeau, F, UCLA (senior)
  9. John Blackwell, G, Wisconsin (junior)
  10. Cameron Boozer, F, Duke (freshman)
  11. Kylan Boswell, G, Illinois (senior)
  12. Nick Boyd, G, Wisconsin (senior)
  13. Jaden Bradley, G, Arizona (senior)
  14. Trevon Brazile, F, Arkansas (senior)
  15. Maliq Brown, F, Duke (senior)
  16. Mikel Brown Jr., G, Louisville (freshman)
  17. Brayden Burries, G, Arizona (freshman)
  18. Cameron Carr, G, Baylor (junior)
  19. Chris Cenac, F/C, Houston (freshman)
  20. Rueben Chinyelu, C, Florida (junior)
  21. Ryan Conwell, G, Louisville (senior)
  22. Sergio De Larrea, G, Spain (born 2005)
  23. AJ Dybantsa, F, BYU (freshman)
  24. Zuby Ejiofor, F, St. John’s (senior)
  25. Isaiah Evans, G/F, Duke (sophomore)
  26. Jeremy Fears, G, Michigan State (junior)
  27. Kingston Flemings, G, Houston (freshman)
  28. Ja’Kobi Gillespie, G, Tennessee (senior)
  29. Allen Graves, F, Santa Clara (freshman)
  30. Keyshawn Hall, G/F, Auburn (senior)
  31. Juke Harris, G, Wake Forest (sophomore)
  32. Joshua Jefferson, F, Iowa State (senior)
  33. Morez Johnson, F/C, Michigan (sophomore)
  34. Alex Karaban, F, UConn (senior)
  35. Jack Kayil, G, Germany (born 2006)
  36. Toibu Lawal, F, Virginia Tech (senior)
  37. Yaxel Lendeborg, F, Michigan (senior)
  38. Karim Lopez, F, Australia (born 2007)
  39. Aday Mara, C, Michigan (junior)
  40. Nick Martinelli, F, Northwestern (senior)
  41. Baba Miller, F/C, Cincinnati (senior)
  42. Dillon Mitchell, F, St. John’s (senior)
  43. Milan Momcilovic, F, Iowa State (junior)
  44. Malachi Moreno, C, Kentucky (freshman)
  45. Izaiyah Nelson, F, South Florida (senior)
  46. Tyler Nickel, F, Vanderbilt (senior)
  47. Ebuka Okorie, G, Stanford (freshman)
  48. Felix Okpara, C, Tennessee (senior)
  49. Ugonna Onyenso, C, Virginia (senior)
  50. Otega Oweh, G, Kentucky (senior)
  51. Koa Peat, F, Arizona (freshman)
  52. Darryn Peterson, G, Kansas (freshman)
  53. Labaron Philon, G, Alabama (sophomore)
  54. Jayden Quaintance, F/C, Kentucky (sophomore)
  55. Tarris Reed, C, UConn (senior)
  56. Billy Richmond, G/F, Arkansas (sophomore)
  57. Richie Saunders, G, BYU (senior)
  58. Emanuel Sharp, G, Houston (senior)
  59. Braden Smith, G, Purdue (senior)
  60. Hannes Steinbach, F, Washington (freshman)
  61. Bennett Stirtz, G, Iowa (senior)
  62. Andrej Stojakovic, G/F, Illinois (junior)
  63. Peter Suder, G, Miami (OH) (senior)
  64. Luigi Suigo, C, Serbia (born 2007)
  65. Dailyn Swain, G/F, Texas (junior)
  66. Tyler Tanner, G, Vanderbilt (sophomore)
  67. Meleek Thomas, G, Arkansas (freshman)
  68. Bruce Thornton, G, Ohio State (senior)
  69. Milos Uzan, G, Houston (senior)
  70. Henri Veesaar, C, North Carolina (junior)
  71. Keaton Wagler, G, Illinois (freshman)
  72. Caleb Wilson, F, North Carolina (freshman)
  73. Tounde Yessoufou, G/F, Baylor (freshman)

It’s worth noting that the NBA and the NBPA agreed to several combine-related changes in their latest Collective Bargaining Agreement. Here are a few of those changes:

  • A player who is invited to the draft combine and declines to attend without an excused absence will be ineligible to be drafted. He would become eligible the following year by attending the combine. There will be exceptions made for a player whose FIBA season is ongoing, who is injured, or who is dealing with a family matter (such as a tragedy or the birth of a child). That player would be required to complete combine activities at a later date.
  • Players who attend the draft combine will be required to undergo physical exams, share medical history, participate in strength, agility, and performance testing, take part in shooting drills, receive anthropometric measurements, and conduct interviews with teams and the media. Scrimmages won’t be mandatory.
  • Medical results from the combine will be distributed to select teams based on where the player is projected to be drafted. Only teams drafting in the top 10 would get access to medical info for the projected No. 1 pick; teams in the top 15 would receive medical info for players in the 2-6 range, while teams in the top 25 would get access to info for the players in the 7-10 range.
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Portsmouth Invitational Tournament Announces 2026 Rosters

By | at April 13, 2026 11:47 pm

The 2026 Portsmouth Invitational Tournament will take place this week from April 15-18 in Portsmouth, VA. The event features college seniors working to boost their stock ahead of the NBA draft, with invitations to the combine a possibility for some standouts.

Several P.I.T. alumni have gone on to become solid NBA players in recent years, including Toumani Camara, Craig Porter Jr., Daniss Jenkins and Kobe Sanders, among others. Camara (2023) and Sanders (2025) were both second-round picks.

This year’s tournament features eight different teams with eight players apiece, for a total of 64 participants. Here’s the full list, per the P.I.T.:

Champaign native Boswell, who helped lead the Illini to the Final Four, appears to be one of the top prospects among the group. The 6’2″ guard came in at No. 66 on ESPN’s latest big board, with Volunteers center Okpara (No. 86) and Boilermakers big man Kaufman-Renn (No. 88) among the other prospects on the top-100 list.

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