How emergence of Knicks’ younger players bodes well for this season and team’s future

Depth has not been the Knicks’ calling card over the past few years. But over the past month, it’s become more common to expect head coach Mike Brown to go to a 10-man rotation. In New York’s last two games against the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans, 11 Knicks have played in close games.

Not much was expected from any of the Knicks’ first or second year players coming into this new season. The past couple of weeks, several of New York’s youngsters have stepped up and contributed to wins. In the process, the group has altered the ceiling of this roster both for this year and in the future.

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Tyler Kolek has led the way among New York’s youth movement. The 24-year old point guard has assumed a spot in New York’s rotation over the last handful of games and has even seen crunch time minutes in significant moments like New York’s NBA Cup win against the Spurs. In the past couple of weeks, Kolek has a 16-point, nine-assist Christmas Day performance, and 20 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists while filling in as a starter against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Second-year player Kevin McCullar Jr. had 13 points, eight rebounds, and two steals in New York’s Saturday night win over the Atlanta Hawks. In Monday night’s victory against the Pelicans, rookie second-round pick Mohamed Diawara emerged, knocking down four threes and scoring 18 points in 16 minutes.

As young players, they’re not always going to have standout games. But it doesn’t feel like the Knicks are having to rely heavily on any of the youngsters to consistently produce. In Wednesday night’s loss to the Spurs, Kolek had three points in 15 minutes while McCullar and Diawara both saw under 10 minutes of action.

The presence of the three aforementioned players adds depth to a Knicks bench that has looked thin at times. Landry Shamet and Miles McBride both have missed time with injuries and reserve forward Guerschon Yabusele has been ineffective. The performances from Kolek, McCullar and Diawara have come just at the right time.

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Another added bonus is the size of both Diawara and McCullar on the wing. Diawara is listed as 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-4 wingspan. McCullar is 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-9 wingspan. One of the concerns has been New York’s lack of size on the perimeter outside of the trio of OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart. New York’s bench has trended towards small with McBride, Shamet, and Jordan Clarkson seeing significant time during the early stages of the season.

Future play

The growth of players like Kolek, Diawara, and McCullar will also be important to New York’s future. The club has the second-highest payroll in the NBA for the 2025-26 season behind the Cleveland Cavaliers. According to Spotrac, the Knicks are currently just $148,358 beneath the second apron.

After the most recent collective bargaining agreement, teams that exceed the second apron face the most stringent penalties, such as not being able to use the taxpayer midlevel exception to sign free agents or aggregating multiple salaries in a trade.

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One way to combat an escalating payroll is drafting well and signing incoming draft picks to modest salaries at a fixed cost. Kolek and Diawara make just under a combined $3.5 million this year. McCullar is on a two-way deal.

The Knicks have five players making $19 million a year or more. With Mitchell Robinson set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season and McBride potentially heading towards free agency in the Summer of 2027, the Knicks need to develop players to be a part of the rotation in the future.

That puts a spotlight on player development, a weakness of the Knicks for much of this century. Developing young, homegrown talent will be a decisive factor in New York being able to build around its core and field a championship contender this year and beyond.