Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns with Jalen Brunson before an NBA Finals game
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns with Jalen Brunson before an NBA Finals game
The Knicks are defending a championship, which is a very good reason to enjoy the roster. It is not a good reason to pretend the center depth is settled.
The team has 13 guaranteed standard contracts and only about $3.27 million of room below the second apron. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond give New York a real starting point, but the group behind them is still thin enough to make every hard foul, ankle tweak, and foul-trouble night feel bigger than it should.
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns shoots against San Antonio in the NBA Finals
Karl-Anthony Towns shoots in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Photo: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect.
Knicks cannot wait for the center market to solve itself
Mitchell Robinson left for Boston. Ariel Hukporti went to Philadelphia. The Knicks made a run at Moussa Cisse, and Dallas matched the offer sheet. The search did not end because the calendar turned to August.
There are names to monitor, including younger bigs who could shake loose during camp, but that is different from having an answer on the roster. A title defense gets harder fast when Towns has to carry every important center minute or Drummond is asked to cover a role that is larger than the one he was signed for.
The second apron is the reason this has dragged. New York cannot casually add another eight-figure contract and clean it up later. That limitation is real. So is the risk of treating the last frontcourt spot like a minor errand.
Karl-Anthony Towns needs a better cushion
Towns can handle huge games. He did it in the Finals. But the Knicks should not build a season around needing him to absorb every matchup with the biggest opposing center because there was no affordable backup available in August.
I get why the front office is patient. There will be cuts, trades, and non-guaranteed deals to watch before opening night. But patience has a limit. The Knicks won the title with real size and multiple looks up front. They should not spend the first half of a title defense trying to recreate that depth on the fly.