Knicks owner James Dolan admits team’s core will be ‘together for a while’

Knicks owner James Dolan admits team’s core will be ‘together for a while’

Coming off their first 50-win season in over a decade, it’s been a slightly bumper ride for the New York Knicks this season.

They traded five unprotected first-round picks for two-way wing Mikal Bridges in June and then acquired big man Karl-Anthony Towns in a three-team swap just days before training camp. But the 42-24 Knicks have slipped to No. 14 defense after being a top-10 unit last year while making a slight dip in NET Rating relative to the rest of the NBA.

They are still on-pace to finish with two more wins than they did last year, but you’d expect slightly more improvement in all facets with those two sizable moves. Nevertheless, the Knicks’ new core–which is one of the best in the NBA–is going to be around for a while, according to owner James Dolan.

We have a team that’s going to be together for a while,” Dolan said, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “(President of basketball operations) Leon (Rose) has done a good job of lining up the contracts and everything else. So this isn’t our only season. We’re going to play a bunch of seasons together.

“You take a look at teams like Boston that have played together, they get to draw off of something that they built over that period of time. And for this team, that’s the challenge, really – today, going into the playoffs, etc. – is to build that inside of the team. Something we can draw on.”

The Knicks currently enter St. Patrick’s Day six games behind the Boston Celtics for the No. 2 seed and six games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks for the No. 4 seed. Thus, they will almost certainly be the No. 3 seed by next month’s playoffs against either the Bucks, Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons, who are all within 1.5 games of each other and competing for the No. 4 seed.

I don’t think I am as high on New York as most. Perhaps I’d feel better if Tom Thibodeaux wasn’t their head coach; he’s a very good coach, but his minutes distribution among his top players has always been a concern to me come April and May.

While they’re feisty, I don’t see them as clear contenders–rather a tier below–because of that. They don’t have a ton of functional depth, so if any of their top-7 (Mitchell Robinson, Miles McBride) go down for an extended period, they’re going to be in trouble against the East’s top foes (Cavaliers, Celtics).

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They have room below the second apron in future seasons, so they still have some flexibility to maneuver around. But Towns, Robinson and McBride are extension eligible offseason while Josh Hart is extension eligible after the 2025-26 season.

They’re expensive, so they better find a way to put themselves in a firm position to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy over the next few seasons with how much resources they’ve invested into this core.

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