The conversation: How high is Knicks’ ceiling after Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges blockbusters?

In a way, the New York Knicks will start the 2024-25 season looking a lot like they did the last time you saw them, but with a couple of key upgrades: Instead of Isaiah Hartenstein setting screens for Jalen Brunson, it’ll be a four-time All-Star, and instead of Donte DiVincenzo firing up 3s off pindowns, it’ll be a different Villanova alum. Tom Thibodeau will still be screaming from the sideline, Josh Hart will still be crashing the glass and Mitchell Robinson, sadly, will still be injured.

It will be difficult, however, to see this iteration of the Knicks in the same light as the stubborn, shorthanded squad that was supposed to be beneath the Eastern Conference’s elite but crashed the party uninvited and came away with the second seed. Four years after taking over a team that had finished 21-45 and failed to qualify for the NBA bubble, Leon Rose’s front office pushed its chips in. The trades that brought Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges to New York cost the franchise Julius Randle, the star scorer acquired as a free agent in 2019 before three All-Star appearances; DiVincenzo, the fan favorite signed in 2023 before a career year; and a bevy of mostly unprotected first-round picks. These are the type of moves you make when you think you can contend for a championship.

Thibodeau may not have the reputation as the league’s most adaptable coach, but last year’s Knicks had to evolve on both ends after trades and injuries. This year, they have do that again, with high-end talent and heightened expectations. Brunson’s challenge, coming off an All-NBA season, is to scale back his usage, improve his efficiency and make sure the new guys are comfortable. Towns’ challenge is to do what he did so well in Minnesota last year: find his place as the No. 2 guy on offense and play his part on the other end. Bridges’ challenge is to be the DPOY candidate he was in Phoenix and show off the on-ball skills he has been honing since he left. Thibodeau’s challenge? To wring the absolute most he can out of this group, as if they are a bunch of scrappy overachievers.

The state of play

Last year: Robinson got hurt in early December, and the Knicks’ defense fell off a cliff. They were 17-15 at the end of the calendar year, but won 15 of 17 games after OG Anunoby’s arrival. Injuries to Anunoby and Randle only somewhat set them back; they finished 50-32 (No. 7 on offense, No. 9 on defense) thanks to Brunson turning into a superstar, Hartenstein doing a bit of everything, DiVincenzo bombing away and Hart playing a zillion full-throttle minutes. They beat the Sixers in six tight games, the most memorable series of the entire playoffs, but lost a second-round war of attrition against Indiana.

The offseason: If the Anunoby trade marked the end of the front office’s patient, build-from-within phase, the Bridges and Towns trades marked the beginning of the all-in era. New York sacrificed some depth to put together a supercharged starting five, and it could do that in part because it signed its franchise player to an extension that seems almost unfair. In the draft, it might have found an immediate rotation player (Tyler Kolek) with the No. 34 pick, if summer league is any indication.

Best case for 2024-25: Towns plays the best defense of his career, and, along with Bridges, lessens Brunson’s previously insane playmaking load; despite the fact that they have way more firepower, the Knicks’ retain their Thibodeauian ethos, nailing all the little things and proving themselves worthy of their first championship since 1973 (and Clyde Frazier’s most inspired wordplay).

Worst case 2024-25: Towns improves New York’s spacing, but his presence marginalizes Bridges and Anunoby on offense and limits the team’s ceiling on the other end; when the team loses in the second round, it feels a thousand times worse than it did last time, with fans divided on whether Thibodeau or Rose is more to blame.

The conversation

Knicks believer: First, they get OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, two players every team in the league wanted to trade for. Then they get Karl-Anthony Towns to fill their gaping hole at center. Do Knicks fans appreciate the work this front office has done in 2024? They should all be on cloud nine! It’s strange how muted the reaction has been to the Towns trade in particular — don’t we all remember what ex-Knick Kristaps Porzingis did for Boston? Towns is even better than Porzingis, and this team is going to be unguardable.

Knicks skeptic: Better than Porzingis in what context? On this team, wouldn’t you rather have KP? You’d lose a bit of isolation scoring, I guess, but you’d more than make up for it with rim protection and general defensive aptitude. This brings me to my take on the Towns trade: in an effort to fill a (temporary) hole, they’ve prematurely pivoted away from a team that could have been elite on both ends, giving up one of the league’s most valuable role players in the process. I loved DiVincenzo! Didn’t you?

Knicks believer: We can call DDV’s one season in NYC the Short n’ Sweet Tour. I’ll miss him, and it’s a shame he was separated from his college buddies. But let’s be honest: This year, there was no way he was going to get the playing time or the featured role that he earned last season. Please remember that his big breakout happened when Randle and Anunoby were both hurt and Bridges was in Brooklyn. On this new roster, he was sort of superfluous, and, since his value was never going to be higher, it was the right time for a trade. I’m actually happy for him — the Wolves desperately need his shooting, and he’ll be cheered at the Garden for the rest of his career. (Also, please stop talking about Towns as if he’s some sort of disaster on defense. Go watch the Denver-Minnesota series right now.)

Knicks skeptic: If he wasn’t going to have a featured role, then why was Thibs talking about continuing to start games with him on the opposing team’s primary ballhandler? Anyway, I definitely wouldn’t use the word “superfluous,” especially in light of Anunoby’s injury history, but I get what you’re saying about DDV: The Knicks had a roster imbalance, so they gave up one of their many wings in order to turn their All-Star forward into an All-Star center. This sounds perfectly logical … but they didn’t trade for Joel Embiid or Anthony Davis. Unlike most 7-footers, Towns is not much of a deterrent in drop coverage. Schematically, Towns presents the exact same problem at the 5 spot as Precious Achiuwa or Jericho Sims or even Randle does. I’m not positive that Towns is a massive upgrade over Randle offensively, either — his drives certainly don’t put the same pressure on the rim — so I’d say it was a pretty big mistake to give up this particular wing (who is on one of the best contracts in the entire league) to turn this particular All-Star forward into this particular All-Star center. 

Knicks believer: You’re absolutely right: Leon Rose should apologize to the whole fan base for acquiring a player who is just one of the best offensive bigs of all time and not also equally good on the other end. Come on. But seriously, I don’t get why it’s such a big deal that Towns isn’t Mr. Drop Coverage. I’m guessing the plan is to start Anunoby, Bridges and Hart, so the Knicks’ rotations should be perfectly on point. Achiuwa can cover lots of ground, too, and, once Robinson is healthy, they’ll have a drop guy. It’s safe to assume Towns will play some 4 next to him, given what we just saw in Minnesota. And as for the offensive stuff, I mean, I think you’re crazy. Randle is a talented one-on-one creator, but there’s a reason I brought up KP at the beginning: Towns’ gravity is a-game changer. You see the ceiling here, don’t you?

Knicks skeptic: Yeah, if absolutely everything clicks, I see the ceiling. I also see a roster that is top-heavy and already missing its one rim protector. I see a front office that, in such a pleasant contrast to those that preceded it, for years resisted the urge to make a big splash, instead gradually putting the pieces of a winning team together by making smart signing after smart signing — until this summer. I worry that the same organization that signed Jalen Brunson, Isaiah Hartenstein and DDV to ridiculously team-friendly deals has now overpaid for Bridges (because of the Nova connection?) and Towns (because of his connection to Leon Rose and William Wesley?). Before the Knicks went star-hunting, this roster was constructed as elegantly as any in the league outside of OKC, and the possibilities seemed limitless. Not anymore.

Knicks believer: You think the big trades were stupid. That’s funny. To me, the Knicks’ roster construction is now extremely similar to the Celtics‘. It’s “top-heavy,” I suppose, but, because the top guys are this talented and complementary, the role players are going to look like the best versions of themselves. After listening to people concern-troll the eventual champions’ depth last season, I’m hoping I won’t have to hear similar stuff about this team’s. My favorite under-discussed part of the KAT is that Brunson and Deuce McBride probably need to share the floor — they were awesome together last year, but there might not have been room for this look in the rotation with DDV around. I’m excited to see Cam Payne hit a bunch of 3s off the bench and make MSG go crazy, and I’m excited to see Tyler Kolek — much steadier than a typical rookie point guard, by the way — try to take his minutes. Achiuwa has already shown that he can be a solid backup 5, and I remain intrigued by Sims, who has more feel on offense than he gets credit for, but neither of them will necessarily even be in the playoff rotation if the team is at full strength.

Knicks skeptic: I didn’t say the trades were stupid. The word I’d use is risky. Never mind the fact that the Knicks are counting on Towns producing like a star (and avoiding silly fouls and turnovers) in the playoffs, they are also making a series of smaller bets: That Anunoby will stay on the court, that the starters will mesh, that Robinson will return to form, that McBride will make more than 40% of his 3s again. And I sort of resent that you’re making me consider the viability of Payne, Kolek, Achiuwa and Sims in potential playoff series against the likes of Boston, Philly and Milwaukee. This isn’t what going for it should look like, is it? Can’t you see why I feel uneasy about this whole thing?

Knicks believer: Sure, there’s some risk. But instead of all this nitpicking, how about you put yourself in Rose’s shoes and tell me what you would have done with the roster? Would you have just run it back, minus Hartenstein? Would you have passed on the Bridges trade (and hurt your chances of getting Brunson take a discount on an extension)? Would you have offered Randle a big, long-term extension? Held out for a better Randle deal before the trade deadline? Let him hit free agency? What if you had done nothing and the season had started off poorly? Don’t you see the risk in not going for it? (Please keep in mind that, if the Knicks were interested in this Towns trade, which barely works within the constraints of the CBA, the wait-and-see approach was not an option. They could’t have done their sign-and-trade gymnastics without the extra roster spots that disappear when the season starts.)

Knicks skeptic: So I can’t be a lightly critical of the Knicks’ offseason without giving you a step-by-step breakdown of the other paths they could have taken? Please. This isn’t that complicated: After putting together the most beloved Knicks team in decades, the front office effectively took away the possibility of another season defined primarily by good vibes. I’m not just bummed that I think the Celtics’ switching will be much more effective against the Knicks than vice versa. I’m bummed that how they match up with the Celtics suddenly feels so important. In the NBA, expectations are everything. The most fun part of the Knicks’ rise is over.