The 2026 NBA Draft begins tonight, and although it’s now a two-day event, it’s a good time to reflect on drafts of the past as we look back on last week’s post-championship jubilation and ahead to this upcoming week’s roster building period.
Actually… we’re Knicks fans. We don’t exactly have fond memories of the draft. A lot of busts, traded picks, and disappointing players populate our recent draft history. In fact, only one player that Leon Rose has drafted played a serious role in this championship
run.
Let’s talk about that player, who’s affectionally known by a certain nickname that you’ll hear in any arena when he puts up a jumpshot.
Miles McBride was born on September 8, 2000, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to an athletic family. His father, Walt, played basketball at Xavier from 1982-86. His mother, Kim, played tennis at Ohio State. His older brother, Trey, would go on to play Division II basketball at Northwood University before spending a half-decade playing overseas.
The nickname “Deuce” has been around much of his life, dating back to third grade. He grew up in Cincy, attending Moeller High School as a two-sport star. Not only was he the team’s star point guard, but he was also their starting quarterback. He got on several Division I schools’ radars with a strong start to his junior season, but a serious foot injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season and ended his high school football career, as he sat out the following year to focus on basketball.
As a three-star recruit, he zeroed in on West Virginia, where he enrolled for the 2019-20 season. He started out as a key role player as a true freshman for a bubble team in the Big 12, but truly blossomed as a sophomore, averaging 15.9 points and 4.8 assists on 41.4% from downtown, being named to Second-Team All-Big 12 while leading the Mountaineers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
He elected to make the jump to the NBA for the 2021 draft and didn’t wait long into the second round to hear his name called. The Knicks once had the No. 32 pick, but traded it to Oklahoma City in exchange for No. 34 and No. 36. After selecting Rokas Jokubaitis at 34, they selected McBride at 36 to bring the 20-year-old into the fold.
His first two seasons, especially under Tom Thibodeau, there wasn’t much for him. The Knicks had Immanuel Quickley as their backup point guard and only sporadically gave McBride minutes, sending him down repeatedly to tone his craft in the G-League. Down in Westchester, he’d consistently put up video game numbers.
He’d occasionally show sparks. 15 points and nine assists with a +19 in his first big game in December 2021 in Houston. Being +16 in a huge fourth-quarter comeback win in Miami in March 2022. Being a baffling +34 in 22 incredible minutes in an 11-point win over Philly in February 2023. An 18-point game a month later in Portland.
The signs were there, even if his overall shooting splits looked rough. Through his first two seasons in a 104-game sample, he shot just 33.7% from the field and 28.2% from three. Things didn’t start much better in 2023-24. He just seemed to be buried beneath Quickley and emerging franchise face Jalen Brunson.
And then, the blockbuster OG Anunoby trade shook up the entire rotation on December 30, 2023.
That day changed McBride’s fortunes forever. That night, Leon Rose inked him to a three-year, $13 million extension, and Thibs entrusted him with the backup point guard position. His play for the rest of the season? Tremendous.
Across the next 50 games, he averaged 10.6 points per game on 45/41/88 shooting splits. All of a sudden, the shooter we saw in Westchester had arrived on the biggest stage as the Knicks’ sixth man. With injuries to Julius Randle and eventually the likes of OG Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanovic, and more, his scoring became more and more crucial as the playoffs began.
His playoff debut as a regular rotation player? 21 points and a +37 in a close win against the Sixers. It was the highest plus-minus in a playoff game in franchise history until… three guys broke it in 2026.
For the rest of the series, he was a consistent thorn in Philadelphia’s side, averaging 11.3/game. His first three games in the second-round series against Indiana were mediocre, but he picked it up over the next three, scoring 54 points on 10-for-24 from deep.
Heading into his first full season as a rotation player, McBride’s jumpshot hit a snag multiple times. Recurring ankle and lower-body injuries had him in and out of the lineup. He had a few standout performances, but never broke through. He missed 2-3 weeks with a groin injury and barely returned in time for the playoffs, never really getting into a groove. The first year of his new extension was good, but not to the level he expected.
His performance finally hit that next gear in 2025-26. Analytically, McBride was a prime candidate to replace Josh Hart in the starting lineup, but that never came. Still, he was able to play consistently alongside Brunson and feed off he and Karl-Anthony Towns’ gravity, leading to a career-high 41.3 3pt% on six attempts a game.
When the team needed him to step up, he stepped up. 25 points against Miami without Brunson in mid-November. 19 points in a big NBA Cup group stage game two weeks later. Back-to-back 20-point games during the three-week stretch from hell as the only player who seemed to not be affected by the doldrums.
But once again, injuries halted his momentum. He missed three weeks in December before a balky knee took him out at the end of January. That somehow turned into a major core injury that resulted in surgery, costing him two whole months. For the second straight season, McBride was returning with just two weeks before the playoffs. Would he be able to knock off the rust?
Sort of. He hit big shots in Games 1 and 4 against Atlanta and nailed five threes in a losing effort in Game 3 as a big part of an 18-point comeback that just fell short. Like the rest of the team, he seemed to have unlocked a deadeye badge during closeout games, burying seven threes on the Sixers in Game 4 and being +25 in just 17 minutes against Cleveland in Game 4.
Unfortunately, McBride’s impact in the NBA Finals was muted. Once the team’s clear sixth man, he was reduced to just 10 minutes a game across the final three as his jumpshot stopped falling and he struggled with San Antonio’s ball pressure. Outside of this miraculous shot in Game 1, he couldn’t find the bottom of the net.
But despite that, despite not being able to make an impact in the biggest games of his career, he somehow managed to make a spiritual one.
How so? Just listen to every single arena when he attempted a shot.
In every single arena, his jumper announced to the world that Knicks fans were in the building. They invaded Atlanta, they invaded Philadelphia, they invaded Cleveland, and they invaded San Antonio. In all four arenas, the Knicks and their fans stormed the castle and raised their flags over it. Deuce, regardless of how he performed, was their rallying cry.
There’s something beautiful about that, especially from a player who isn’t just a gimmick like a chant. This isn’t a Theo Pinson. It was absolutely in the realm of possibility that McBride could’ve been a major part of that Spurs’ series, he just didn’t make his shots. That’s basketball, and I’m willing to chalk some of this up to the quick turnaround from major core surgery.
Regardless, McBride is still under contract for a criminally underpaid amount in 2026-27, after which, he’ll be due a new extension. Whether that happens here or elsewhere, he’s an NBA champion.
One more time until he gets his ring in October:
DEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE
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(P&T will be doing player-by-player article tributes over the next few weeks to commemorate the special team that ended our long, half-century nightmare)
