The Knicks were among the healthiest teams in basketball last season. Most trackers rank them in the bottom ten for minutes, games, salary, and production lost due to injuries in the 2024-25 season. That is despite the unbelievable amount of strain put on them by former coach Tom Thibodeau and the team’s starters logging a historic amount of minutes.
Casey Smith and the team’s award-winning athletic training staff are a big reason why the team mostly stayed upright for the season. Aside from a turned
ankle here and there, the Knicks were remarkably healthy among their core contributors:
Mikal Bridges: 82 games (duh)
Josh Hart: 77 games
OG Anunoby: 74 games (career-high)
Karl-Anthony Towns: 72 games (2nd most since 2018-19)
Jalen Brunson: 65 games
Deuce McBride: 64 games
Aside from the Mitchell Robinson stress fracture that was carefully managed so he could return at 100 percent at the end of February, there were no long-term injuries. The Knicks were able to run out the same starting lineup 48 times (62 including playoffs) and only used 12 total starting lineups. In the playoffs, no key player missed a game.
However, the pendulum does eventually swing back at some point. While Smith and the training staff have done a good job in preventing serious injuries, the Knicks have suddenly encountered more and more short-term injuries (coupled with minor load management), which has forced Mike Brown to experiment a lot more than Tom Thibodeau did. After using 13 starting lineups in 100 total games last season, the Knicks have used 13 through 31 games.
The inherent difference between the two men, however, is that Brown isn’t using these injuries to heavily lean on the same 4-6 guys, but rather, gives opportunities to players who usually hand out towels and water bottles.
Take Tyler Kolek, who we’ve waxed poetic about for the last few weeks on P&T. The second-year Marquette product started the season in Brown’s larger rotation before falling out after the team’s choppy 2-3 start. He played predominantly in garbage time for the next few weeks until re-entering the rotation on November 22 due to an injury to Landry Shamet and Deuce McBride’s illness.
With Shamet out since and McBride suffering an ankle sprain less than two weeks later, Kolek has been a regular ever since, gradually improving to have one of the better plus-minuses on the team in December and shine when the lights are brightest, both on Christmas and the NBA Cup Final.
While Bridges has played every game and Towns/Brunson have combined to miss just four, there have been slightly longer absences for Hart and Anunoby. Hart’s missed three games, scattered throughout the season, and is due to miss at least two more, while Anunoby has missed ten games. Add in Shamet’s absence due to a shoulder injury, and the Knicks have been quite shorthanded in the wing department.
Entering the season, we’d have figured that Guerschon Yabusele would play a significant role when players missed time, but he seems to have fallen into an Evan Fournier-like doghouse due to his poor play and has been bypassed by several young players, including Mo Diawara.
The second-rounder from France has even gotten a pair of starts lately. While he hasn’t quite stood out yet, he’s been able to make an occasional jumper and tout strong defense with his big frame, proving he may be ahead of schedule after the Knicks took a gamble on the wiry wing over the summer.
The other unlikely youngster contributing isn’t who we thought, as Pacome Dadiet seems to be taking a more Westchester-y path to his development. Who had the former No. 56 pick Kevin McCullar Jr. contributing in real games before this season?
He’s on a two-way deal, so I don’t believe we’ll see the same level of playing time going forward, but he’s at least shown some intrigue with a career-best performance against the Hawks, channeling his inner Josh Hart by making hustle plays on both ends.
This feels like a lot deeper of a Knicks team than we’ve had in quite a bit, especially when you consider the current high-end talent. The 2022-23 team boasted 10-12 NBA-caliber rotation players, but had a limited ceiling with Julius Randle and RJ Barrett as the team’s co-stars alongside Brunson. Now, it seems the Knicks have a chance to play deep rotations to keep their stars fresh in a way they couldn’t do before.
All the kudos belong to Mike Brown and the coaching staff for not only developing, but also giving these players a chance when the team needs it. Last year, Thibs would routinely push the team’s best players into 42-44 minute stints because of injuries, but that hasn’t been the case this year. Granted, I think that the young players this season have unequivocally improved, and we wouldn’t have gotten this performance out of them last year, but it’s encouraging.
All of this is creating a good problem to have. What happens when McBride (who could return tonight in New Orleans) and Shamet (January, perhaps?) return? What about when Hart is healthy? There will be games in which the Knicks have all their horses healthy, and the minutes distribution will be interesting as Brown places more trust in Kolek and Diawara than previously expected.
Over the course of a season, though, you’ll have these injuries pop up every now and then. Having dudes ready to jump off the bench and contribute is a welcome sign.
