Power Ranking Knicks' Roster Based on Regular-Season Performance

The 2023-24 NBA season has been a strange—mostly good, but incredibly frustrating—one for the New York Knicks.

They've engineered the kind of dominant runs that makes it seem as if they're on the cusp of championship contention. But repeat run-ins with the injury bug have ravaged their loaded-on-paper roster, and while they could still climb as high as the second seeded in the Eastern Conference, their current three-game skid has seen them slide down to the five spot.

When healthy, this roster is as deep as any you'll find in the Association. Jalen Brunson's perpetual ascension has addressed their longstanding need for a superstar, and when Julius Randle and OG Anunoby are healthy and in rhythm, the co-star spots are covered just fine, too.

Still, the clock is ticking for this club to get healthy, and who knows what might happen if it doesn't?

Future forecasting is an exercise for a different day, though. For now, we'll examine what has brought the 'Bockers this far by ranking their entire roster based on everyone's regular-season performance to date.

18. Duane Washington Jr.

Washington has signed four different contracts with the Knicks since Feb. 2023, most recently getting a two-way deal in January. Still, his next NBA minutes would be his first with New York.

17. Mamadi Diakite

Diakite parlayed mid-March 10-day deal into a rest-of-season contract, but so far he's logged just eight minutes across two outings.

16. Charlie Brown Jr.

Brown has gotten the most run of the Knicks' players listed so far, which sounds good until you realize that only equates to eight appearances lasting a total of 37 minutes.

15. DaQuan Jeffries

The Knicks waived Jeffries in December, then gave him a pair of 10-day deals before signing him for the remainder of the season. He has appeared in 16 games, though only for a total of 45 minutes, during which he's shot just 6-of-17 overall and 2-of-10 from distance.

14. Jacob Toppin

The younger brother of former Knicks lottery pick Obi Toppin, Jacob's biggest claim to fame this season was participating in the Dunk Contest (and perhaps getting snubbed out of a spot in the finals). His big-league minutes have been relatively productive, there just haven't been many of them (38 over nine contests).

13. Shake Milton

Bought out by the Detroit Pistons in early March and snatched up by the Knicks shortly thereafter, Milton has mostly been out of sight and out of mind since. A spark-plug scorer who was a rotation regular for the Philadelphia 76ers just last season, Milton has logged just 27 minutes in five games.

12. Alec Burks

Burks' first stint with the Knicks, which spanned the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, was largely a productive one. The same can't be said of his second (yet). Over 20 appearances (including one start), the veteran wing has posted a ghastly 31.4/30/71 shooting slash while nearly matching his assists (0.8 per game) with his turnovers (0.7).

11. Jericho Sims

Sims doesn't always hit the hardwood, but when he does, he makes things happen—usually above the rim. The backup big boasts a 70.4 field-goal percentage, which makes sense when all but one of his made buckets has been a dunk or a lay-up, per Basketball-Reference.

10. Bojan Bogdanović

Bogdanović's shooting and scoring has been more erratic than New York likely envisioned when adding him at the deadline, but his track record suggests more consistency could be coming soon.

9. Precious Achiuwa

Included in the deal that brought Anunoby to the Big Apple, Achiuwa has helped hold things together on this injury-riddled frontcourt. He can bring zip to the center spot or provide physicality at power forward, and his energy meter is always full.

8. Mitchell Robinson

Robinson is a tricky evaluation, since he looked so dominant in the first month-plus of the season before losing nearly four months to an ankle injury. He has understandably looked rusty in his first three games back, but his finishing, rebounding and shot-blocking are all vital ingredients in the Knicks' winning recipe when he's right.

7. Miles McBride

Injuries and trades created an opportunity for McBride, and he has absolutely seized it. Previously seen as a dogged defender with no scoring punch to speak of, he has suddenly upped his output to 15.6 points per 36 minutes on 45.8/42.1/86.7 shooting.

6. OG Anunoby

This ranking might infuriate some of the faithful, as a healthy Anunoby looked every part of this team's missing piece upon his late December arrival. Offering everything from shut-down defense to support scoring to efficient shooting, he basically checked every box this bunch has needed. He has played 17 games for the Knicks, and they've won 15 of them.

Maybe that impact on winning should command a higher ranking, but again, it's just 17 games. He missed a month-plus with an elbow injury, returned for three games and wound up back on the shelf with more elbow issues. So, for as great as he's looked in the Blue and Orange, it's hard to slot him any higher when the sample size is so small.

5. Josh Hart

Hart has emerged as the ultimate glue-guy for this team, playing a boatload of games (74 and counting) and a bunch of minutes (2,456) while routinely stuffing the stat sheet (18 double-doubles and six triple-doubles). The only issue is his shooting rates have tanked, as he's down to just 41.8 percent from the field and 30.5 percent from distance.

4. Julius Randle

A healthy Randle is a legitimate difference-maker. He booked his third career (and second consecutive) All-Star trip earlier this season and holds top-two team averages in points (24 per game, second), rebounds (9.2, second) and assists (5.0, second). But a shoulder injury has shelved him since late January, and his three-point percentage underwhelmed before that (31.1).

3. Isaiah Hartenstein

Hartenstein's numbers aren't enormous (8.3 rebounds, 7.5 points and 2.3 assists), but his impact usually is. Among New York's rotation regulars, only Anunoby and Brunson have a better net differential than Hartenstein's plus-9.7 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. Before Robinson went down, Hartenstein might have been the league's best backup center. Now, he's one of the better starters you'll find at that spot.

2. Donte DiVincenzo

Folks may not agree with this ranking, and that's fine. Before overreacting to it, though, just know the gap between the Nos. 6 and 2 spots is smaller than the one separating Nos. 2 and 1. It's not quite a coin clip between these names, but it's close.

What ultimately gives DiVincenzo the (slight) edge is availability (2,076 minutes over 74 outings), the fact he contributes at both ends and the super-sized significance of his emergence as a quantity-plus-quality shooter. The Knicks have long needed all the spacing they can get, and DiVincenzo has almost provided that on his own. His 255 triples are the third-most in the league, and his 39.8 percent splash rate paces New York's volume shooters.

1. Jalen Brunson

This was, frankly, the easiest ranking on the board. Brunson's first season in Gotham was a raging success, but he has taken things to a different level in year two. This offense would be (and usually is) totally lost without him. Volume and efficiency both work in his favor, as his 27.8 points per game are enhanced by a 47.5/39.7/84.2 shooting slash while his 6.6 assists look even better when weighed against his 2.4 turnovers.