Where each Knicks player stands heading into an offseason full of questions
A look at the Knicks roster heading into the offseason:
Jalen Brunson
Stats: 26.0 PPG, 7.3 APG, 2.9 RPG
Advertisement
Contract status: 2025-26: $34.9M; 2026-27: $37.7M; 2027-28: $40.5M; 2028-29: Player option for $43.3M.
Skinny: Brunson has become an elite NBA guard, named the league's Clutch Player of the Year. The captain led the Knicks to the conference finals for the first time in 25 years, averaging 29.4 points and seven assists in the playoffs.
Karl-Anthony Towns
Stats: 24.4 PPG, 12.8 RPG, 3.1 APG
Contract Status: 2025-26: $53.1M; 2026-27: $57M; 2027-28: Player option for $61M.
Advertisement
Skinny: Overall, his first season as a Knick was strong. Towns was an All-Star and an All-NBA third-team selection, adding a new offensive dimension to the team. The postseason showcased his defensive flaws, particularly against the ball-moving, up-tempo Pacers.
6 Karl-Anthony Towns dribbles during the Knicks' Game 6 loss to the Pacers on May 31.
Charles Wenzelberg
OG Anunoby
Stats: 18.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.2 APG
Advertisement
Contract Status: 2025-26: $39.5M; 2026-27: $42.5M; 2027-28: $45.4M; 2028-29: Player option for $48.3M
6 OG Anunoby attempts a shot during the Knicks' Game 6 loss to the Pacers on May 31.
Charles Wenzelberg
Skinny: His defense on Pistons star Cade Cunningham was key in the first-round series victory, and he played a major role in ousting the defending champion Celtics in the second round. The two-way wing also notched a personal best in scoring during the regular season, although his shooting dipped in the playoffs.
Mikal Bridges
Stats: 17.6 PPG, 3.7 APG, 3.2 RPG
Advertisement
Contract status: 2025-26: $24.9M.
6 Mikal Bridges delivered with his defense during the Knicks' series against the Celtics.
Charles Wenzelberg
Skinny: His postseason was similar to his first regular season with the Knicks: Uneven. There were bright spots — like the two clutch stops in the first two games against the Celtics in the second round — but also too many instances when he didn't make enough of an impact.
Josh Hart
Stats: 13.6 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 5.9 APG
Contract Status: 2025-26: $19.4M; 2026-27: $20.9M; 2027-28: Team option for $22.3M.
Follow The Post's coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs
Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts about the series.
Skinny: A shaky series against the Pacers shouldn't diminish his year. The gutty Hart set career highs in rebounds, assists, steals and minutes, and was instrumental in the series upset of the Celtics, averaging 14.5 rebounds, 8.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists.
Miles McBride
Stats: 9.5 PPG, 2.9 APG, 2.5 RPG
Advertisement
Contract status: 2025-26: $4.3M; 2026-27: $3.9M
Skinny: He found his shot in the playoffs and led the Knicks in NET rating at plus-4.3. Owed just over $8M the next two years, McBride is a bargain.
Mitchell Robinson
Stats: 5.1 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.1 BPG
Advertisement
Contract status: 2025-26: $12.9M
Skinny: A difference-maker in the playoffs after appearing in only 17 regular-season games following ankle surgery, Robinson was a key piece in the postseason. His 17.2 playoff offensive rebounding percentage was tops among players in the league who saw rotation minutes.
Cam Payne
Stats: 6.9 PPG, 2.8 APG, 1.4 RPG
Contract status: Unrestricted free agent
Advertisement
6 Cam Payne eventually lost his spot in the rotation during the Knicks' series against the Pacers.
Charles Wenzelberg
Skinny: The veteran guard was a playoff disappointment other than his impactful opener against the Pistons. He eventually lost his spot in the rotation to Delon Wright in the Pacers series, and was mostly underwhelming during the regular season.
Landry Shamet
Stats: 5.7 PPG, 1.2 RPG, 0.5 APG
Contract status: Unrestricted free agent
Advertisement
Skinny: Benched for most of the postseason, Shamet made an impact when given a chance against the Pacers. Was a capable bench piece during the regular season.
Delon Wright
Stats: 4.3 PPG, 2.1 APG, 1.4 RPG
Contract status: Unrestricted free agent
6 Delon Wright capitalized on his Knicks chance after earning a rotation spot late in the postseason.
Charles Wenzelberg
Skinny: Picked up in the Jericho Sims trade in February, Wright was a nonfactor until the Pacers series, when he was given a chance to contribute. He answered the call, giving the Knicks quality minutes behind Brunson.
Precious Achiuwa
Stats: 6.6 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.0 APG
Contract status: Unrestricted free agent
6 Precious Achiuwa defends during Game 3 of the Knicks' series against the Celtics on May 10.
Charles Wenzelberg
Skinny: Well-liked and versatile reserve who had a role during large parts of the 51-win regular season, but fell out of the rotation in the playoffs. Could look elsewhere for a bigger opportunity.
Tyler Kolek
Stats: 2.0 PPG, 1.7 APG, 0.7 RPG
Contract status: 2025-26: $2.1M; 2026-27: 2.2M; 2027-28: Team option for $2.4M
Skinny: Second-round pick out of Marquette mostly watched and learned as a rookie. Uncertain if the Knicks believe he's ready to serve as Brunson's backup next season.
Kevin McCullar Jr.
Contract status: Restricted free agent.
Skinny: Didn't make his G-League debut until Jan. 31 due to knee surgery, and the second-round pick appeared in just four games with the Knicks.
Ariel Hukporti
Stats: 1.9 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 0.6 BPG
Contract status: 2025-26: Team option for $1.9M.
Skinny: The athletic big man has shown glimpses of potential when given a chance.
Pacome Dadiet
Contract status: 2025-26: $2.8M; 2026-27: Team option for $2.9M; 2027-28: Team option for $5.3M.
Skinny: First-round pick from France put up quality numbers in the G-League (14.9 points, 5.4 rebounds) during a rookie season that didn't include much action with the Knicks.
P.J. Tucker
Stats: 3.0 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 0.3 BPG
Contract status: 2025-26: Team option for $3.4M.
Skinny: Teammates credited the 40-year-old Tucker, signed in March, for his leadership and knowledge he shared during the playoff run to the conference finals.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
16 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
SuperSonics fans feel no allegiance to the Thunder in these NBA Finals. Go Pacers, the scornful say.
SEATTLE — It's logical to think someone like Danny Ball is a fair representation of Seattle these days. Ball, a hoops fan who runs an Instagram account called 'Iconic Sonics,' is pulling for the Indiana Pacers over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. There are no deep ties between Seattle and Indianapolis. The Seahawks play the Colts this December, so the cities will be foes that weekend. Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever probably won't be warmly welcomed when they visit the Emerald City later this month to play the Seattle Storm. But right now, Seattle may as well be an Indy suburb. Seattle fans lost their NBA franchise, the SuperSonics, in 2008 when it was stolen from them and rebranded in Oklahoma City. For the scornful, that means one thing: Go Pacers. 'I'd love to see the Pacers pull it off in six games,' Ball said. The NBA Finals begin Thursday night. For some in Seattle, it'll be a heaping helping of fresh salt on the wounds that opened when the Sonics were taken away. And people like Ball, who grew up in Seattle hearing stories of Sonics legends like Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, aren't exactly rooting for Oklahoma City right now. The Thunder are heavy favorites to beat the Pacers. Should they pull it off, the Thunder would claim their first NBA title in Oklahoma City, but technically their second as a franchise after Seattle won the title in 1979. It's no secret the city wants the league to come back. Expansion is on the NBA's to-do list, and it's likely that talks — the first of many, many steps in this process — could start in earnest with interested cities in the next few months. Commissioner Adam Silver, however, hasn't fully committed to adding new teams. 'The issue I would not have anticipated at the time I sort of began talking about the timeline is how much unknown there is about local media right now,' Silver said earlier this year. 'Having said that, though, I would just say again to our many fans in Seattle, and I hear from them often, and the legacy of the Sonics is still very strong and it's a fantastic basketball market, is that we are very focused on it. … We don't take those fans for granted. We're thankful that the interest has remained over all these years.' Any mention of expansion sends fans into a tizzy. Steve Ballmer, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, spoke to the crowd before a preseason game in Seattle — his hometown — in 2023, and made a thinly veiled reference to how fans need to remind the league's New York office how much the city loves the game. 'All night long, it better be loud enough in this building to hear us all the way back in New York, if you get me,' Ballmer told the crowd. 'Let's make sure we're loud tonight.' And then came the Ballmer bellow: 'Go Seattle,' he screamed. It's something Seattle takes seriously, as Mayor Bruce Harrell learned earlier this year in his address to the city. 'Right now, at this moment, I have an announcement to make,' Harrell said, reaching into the lectern where he was standing and pulling out a basketball, spinning it in his hands as he displayed it to the crowd — which began roaring. 'Ah, I'm just kidding.' The crowd wasn't amused. Harrell later was interviewed by Seattle's KOMO News and apologized for the attempt at humor, getting reminded that residents of the city aren't happy that the NBA hasn't returned yet. 'Count me among them,' Harrell said. A very real void has been left in the SuperSonics' absence. The NHL's Seattle Kraken entering the fold has helped, as has the success of the WNBA's Seattle Storm, both of whom play at Climate Pledge Arena, which sits on the site of the SuperSonics' former home. That same arena received a significant remodel ahead of the Kraken arriving, which could make it suitable for NBA games. That would ultimately be up to the association to decide one day, but Ball hopes it would be the Sonics' former home in the Queen Anne neighborhood they get to triumphantly return to one day. 'A lot of Sonics fans that I know I'm sure never got over the wounds of what happened here 17 years ago with them leaving (for) Oklahoma City,' SuperSonics fan Eric Phan said. 'All of the Sonics fanbase (is) rooting for the Indiana Pacers.' Seattle seemed to have a chance at getting a team back in 2013 when the Maloof family put the Sacramento Kings up for sale. But investor Chris Hansen's bid to relocate the team to Seattle was rejected by the NBA's Board of Governors. For fans like Ball and Phan, hope lives on. Ball recognizes that's partially because he is an inherently positive person, and he's hoping for a Hollywood ending. 'It would be poetic if the year that OKC wins the finals — if that occurs — is in the same summer that the league comes out and says, 'Hey, we're forming an expansion committee to start really exploring this process,'' Ball said. 'I think that would help damper or therapize the feelings and emotions that would come along with seeing the Thunder hoist the Larry O'Brien.' Phan pointed out that just because the Sonics don't play in Seattle, it doesn't mean the team is truly gone. 'You can see people walking the sidewalks and streets of Seattle, and even the suburbs,' Phan said. 'People are wearing Sonics gear like they never really left.'
USA Today
25 minutes ago
- USA Today
When is the NBA Finals? Thunder, Pacers set to play for a title
When is the NBA Finals? Thunder, Pacers set to play for a title Show Caption Hide Caption Shaq gives thoughts on a possible Pacers-Thunder 'small market' Finals Shaq joins Sports Seriously to give his thoughts on if a Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals would be too 'small market' for the league. Sports Seriously What appears to be an obvious mismatch on paper still sets up for an intriguing battle as the 2025 NBA Finals get underway on Thursday. The No. 4-seeded Indiana Pacers completed a stunning run through an upset-filled Eastern Conference bracket to make their first appearance in the Finals since 2000, defeating the No. 3 New York Knicks in six games. Meanwhile the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder rolled through the Western Conference, defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games to reach the Finals for the first time since 2012. Adding to the drama, neither franchise has won an NBA title in its current location. (The Thunder won it all in 1979, when they were the Seattle Supersonics.) OPINION: No one will stop the Thunder from winning NBA championship How to watch the NBA Finals The 2025 NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV will air on ABC. Fans can stream it on ESPN+, Fubo, and SlingTV. Watch the NBA Finals with Fubo 2025 NBA Finals schedule Game 1: Pacers at Thunder (Thursday, June 5, 8:30 ET, ABC) Pacers at Thunder (Thursday, June 5, 8:30 ET, ABC) Game 2: Pacers at Thunder (Sunday, June 8, 8 ET, ABC) Pacers at Thunder (Sunday, June 8, 8 ET, ABC) Game 3: Thunder at Pacers (Wednesday, June 11, 8:30 ET, ABC) Thunder at Pacers (Wednesday, June 11, 8:30 ET, ABC) Game 4: Thunder at Pacers (Friday, June 13, 8:30 ET, ABC) Thunder at Pacers (Friday, June 13, 8:30 ET, ABC) Game 5: Pacers at Thunder, (Monday, June 16, 8:30 ET, ABC)* Pacers at Thunder, (Monday, June 16, 8:30 ET, ABC)* Game 6: Thunder at Pacers (Thursday, June 19, 8:30 ET, ABC)* Thunder at Pacers (Thursday, June 19, 8:30 ET, ABC)* Game 7: Pacers at Thunder, Sunday, June 22, 8 ET on ABC)* The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports' newsletter.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NBA Finals 2025: 'I can guarantee we'll be cheering for OKC' — Why sportsbooks are rooting for the Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are the largest NBA Finals favorites (-700 at BetMGM) in their franchise's history against the Indiana Pacers (+500), but sportsbooks will still be cheering for Oklahoma City when the series tips off Thursday night. "The Thunder have been our best result just about the entire playoffs," Halvor Egeland, BetMGM trading manager told Yahoo Sports. "That remains the case and with where the finals pricing is, I can guarantee we'll be cheering on OKC." Advertisement Sportsbooks were helped in the futures market tremendously by the Los Angeles Lakers losing in the first round to the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games. The Lakers were BetMGM's biggest liability "by a decent margin" to win the title, and among those bets was a $100,000 wager on Los Angeles at 10-1 odds that would've won $1 million. The Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics all were potential hazards for sportsbooks — and all were eliminated before the conference finals. "Our best result is Oklahoma City," Jeff Sherman, vice president of risk at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook said. "Their odds were low enough all season that liability didn't accumulate. They were one of our best scenarios going into the playoffs, and we do very well on them." Indeed, the Thunder's longest odds came before the season, when they were 10-1 to win it all at BetMGM for three total days last June. Oklahoma City was a +185 favorite entering the postseason and -175 entering the conference finals against the Timberwolves. The Thunder at -700 are tied for the seventh-biggest favorite in the NBA Finals since 1968, according to Sports Odds History. Advertisement The Pacers, on the other hand, opened as a long shot with 50-1 odds, and those odds got as high as 150-1 in March. Even entering the playoffs, Indiana was 80-1 to win the title, and the Pacers didn't get into single digits until before the conference finals against the New York Knicks, when they were +800 to win the title. Indiana wasn't even the favorite (+135) in its series against New York. 'Many bettors have backed the Pacers during a playoff run that includes taking down the top-seeded Cavs and the high-profile Knicks with multiple dramatic comebacks," Adrian Horton, director of North American sports trading for ESPN Bet, said. "Given their relatively long price compared to OKC, who have taken care of business as a 1-seed, it's the Pacers who are our bigger liability today.' BetMGM told Yahoo Sports there are "a couple" of Pacers futures wagers with a chance to win six figures at 125-1 odds. Sherman said Westgate took a $400 wager on Indiana at 150-1 in mid-February, along with two $200 wagers at that price, making Indiana a "small liability." Not many bettors were backing Indiana down the stretch of the regular season, despite the Pacers now sporting a record of 46-18 since Jan. 1. Advertisement "Certainly for the Eastern Conference futures, having the Pacers come through was a huge win," Thomas Gable, sportsbook director at The Borgata in Atlantic City (a BetMGM book) noted. "We had liability on both the Knicks and Celtics and were pretty much break even on the Cavs. The Pacers were pretty much ignored in the futures all year." Likely due to the big potential payout, bettors have been backing Indiana to beat Oklahoma City, with a staggering 92% of the bets and 91% of the total dollars wagered so far on the Pacers to win the finals. If the Pacers pull off the stunner, it would be the biggest NBA Finals upset since 2004 when the Detroit Pistons (+500) beat the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. Game 1 tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday on ABC. The Thunder are 9.5-point favorites, with the total at 230.5.
