The New York Knicks have become title contenders after assembling the best starting five in the NBA.

Last season, the Knicks finished as the second seed in the Eastern Conference with 50 wins. However, with the Knicks starting power forward, Julius Randle, suffering a season-ending shoulder dislocation, the Knicks had to strengthen their roster if they wanted to make a playoff run. 

To accomplish this, they traded away the 3rd pick in the 2019 draft, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley, for Raptors forward OG Anunoby, who has since signed a 5-year, $212.5M deal with the Knicks. During Anunoby’s 23-game stretch with the Knicks, he averaged 14 points per game on a higher-than-league average 39.4% from three-point range. Besides his offensive skills, Anunoby’s defensive skills also benefited the Knicks in clutch moments, as he averaged 1.7 steals per game with the Knicks last season. 

The Knicks also acquired Bojan Bogdanovic from the Detroit Pistons for Ryan Arcidiacono, Malachi Flynn, Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes, and two second-round picks.

The Knicks looked and played strong with these trades, beating out the Philadelphia 76ers in six games. However, this win came at the cost of season-ending injuries to Anunoby, Bogdanovic, and the Knicks center, Mitchell Robinson, effectively making the in-season trades they made seem worthless. Next, the Knicks played against the Indiana Pacers but were eliminated in seven games after the injuries finally caught up to them.

The Knicks’ success in the second round, including taking the Pacers to seven games with half of their roster injured, made the front office realize that they should make more “win now” moves if they want to be title contenders.

One such move came when they traded for an All-Star caliber player in Mikal Bridges. In exchange, they gave up four unprotected first-round picks, a 2025 protected first-round pick, a pick swap, two second-round picks, and Bogdanovic, putting the Knicks “win-now” mentality on full display.

Bridges is a two-way wing who had a breakout season on the Brooklyn Nets last season, averaging 19.6 points per game while shooting 43.6% from the field. His two-way skill set makes him a perfect fit for the Knicks, adding more shooting while not losing anything on the defensive side.

By bringing in Bridges, the Knicks added a high-ceiling wing who could lock down other teams’ second or third options while also being able to effectively add to the already lethal offense, strengthening their roster and signaling the Knicks’ intent to make a deep playoff run.

Adding Bridges will clear up a lot of defensive space for Anunoby. His presence alongside Anunoby will also create one of the best wing-defender duos in the league, adding to the Knicks’ already tight defense. 

However, some fans have shown concern after Bridges showed off a strange new shooting form he had been working on over the off-season. Bridges told reporters that he had been “trying to shoot more like he did in college. ” However, this new form has yet to be more effective, as he shot 7-13 in his first game with the Knicks.

One fan who’s critical of Bridges’ new shooting form is Saint Paul’s junior Jonny McGinnis, who said, “Bridges’ new form looks like something you would see at an LA Fitness. It looks like he’s never shot a ball before. He’s already a pretty good three-point shooter, so he should never have changed his form in the first place.”

However, Bridges’ teammates have addressed these concerns. “We don’t care about all the background noise about Mikal, his shot. We don’t care about it. He puts the work in every day. He’s going to be good. The talk around it is stupidity. There’s stupidity to it because, at the end of the day, he’s been almost a 40% career 3-point shooter. The talk around it is stupid, and we’re not really going to entertain it,” said teammate Josh Hart.

Bridges will improve after he gets into the flow of things, which shouldn’t prove to be a problem for him.

Even after trading for Bridges, the Knicks’ front office still wasn’t finished, as they traded Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for former All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns.

This trade was an absolute win for the Knicks, as they were able to move on from Randle, who was either injured before the playoffs or played horribly during them, in exchange for Towns, who had just come off an impressive run with the Timberwolves, where he helped take down the former champions. 

Towns is the perfect upgrade from Randle, as he’s the best big man three-point shooter of all time, with the highest career three-point percentage among big men, is less injury prone, and is a playoff riser (averaging an impressive 18.5 points and 9 rebounds per game in the playoffs against the Denver Nuggets). Last season, he averaged 21.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while also having a franchise-high 62-point performance where he drained 10 threes.

Most fans are also in agreement that Towns is an upgrade from Randle. “Towns will have one of the best seasons of his career with the Knicks because he’ll be playing with a true point guard instead of Anthony Edwards, who is more of a pure scorer,” said Saint Paul’s senior Andrew James.

The only downside to this trade was that the Knicks had to give up DiVincenzo, the Knicks’ best three-point threat, who scored over 280 three-pointers while averaging 15.5 points per game last season. However, the additions of both Bridges and Towns should compensate for DiVincenzo’s absence as long as they keep up their three-point volume. 

It was also rumored that DiVincenzo had requested a trade as he was unhappy with being the team’s sixth man after having a career-best season as a starter; however, DiVincenzo told reporters that he wasn’t “unhappy” with the Knicks.

Regardless, the Knicks roster is jam-packed with talent, but at the top of it all shines the team’s star and the King of New York City basketball: Jalen Brunson. 

Last season, Brunson proved himself to be one of the best offensive guards in the league, averaging a monstrous 28.7 points and 6.7 assists per game while being in MVP talks. When comparing Brunson’s stats from last year to other prominent guards, it shows that Brunson averaged the second most points per game while playing the most games (77).

Brunson is also the key to the Knicks’ offense. He passes the ball effectively while averaging 2.79 assists per turnover and is still an offensive monster, lighting up the scoreboards. His ability to seamlessly finish, run through traffic, and hit deep three-point shots also makes him a constant threat to other teams’ defenses. 

Brunson also carried a limping Knicks team through the playoffs while being the best player in the playoffs, averaging 32.4 points, 7.5 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and having five 40-point performances. He certainly could have led the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals had he not fractured his left hand, leading many Knicks fans to imagine what a fully healthy roster could achieve.

With these new additions alongside Brunson, the Knicks undoubtedly have the best starting lineup in the NBA, so they should make a legitimate run for the title this year.

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Feature Image Credit: Michael Pina