Knicks' Offseason Ranked Among NBA's Least Chaotic

The NBA's offseason serves as the battleground in which every team's front offices take the place of the players in squaring off against the rest of the league, and for once, the New York Knicks have avoided a messy summer.

They closed the regular season by threatening to fall back into their disorderly ways, beating all expectations in making it all the way to the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals, but a decisive coach firing quickly put them back on the defensive in figuring out how to maintain their momentum while attempting to plug all of the holes revealed to them in the previous regular season.

Despite all of the potential wrong turns they could have taken, the Knicks somehow look to close this offseason under about as much control as they've had this century. They're generally viewed as true contenders for the first time during the Jalen Brunson era, one of the few top-tier franchise players out east in a conference lacking many teams to challenge his own.

"New York had one of the best and most stable starting fives in the NBA last season with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns," Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey wrote when ranking every team by how chaotic of a summer they've had. "Everyone from that group is back, and Bridges even signed an extension this offseason.

"What New York did this summer was provide a little more backup for that unit by adding Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele. They were notable moves, though not exactly chaotic ones."

The Knicks were ranked as having the second-calmest transaction cycle, a relief for a franchise that's spent nearly the entirety of the 21st century desperately flailing to put together the sort of deep roster they've now organized through patience and keen strategizing. Their front office has come a long way in just the last decade, with much of their good fortunate stemming from that long-awaited franchise-altering signee in Brunson.

New York Knicks Center Karl-Anthony Towns and Guards Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson — May 29, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) and center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and guard Josh Hart (3) react in the fourth quarter against the Indiana Pacers during game five of the eastern conference finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Since then, the Knicks have put together one of the most talented starting lineups in the league, slowly trading their own prospects for impact scorers in Towns, Bridges and Anunoby. This was their first summer in a long while without one of their typically-antsy exchanges, though, as they demonstrated the wherewithal to devote their time and money to scouting out free agent reserves to pad their bench.

Yabusele and Clarkson, along with one of their newly-signed fringe guards, look to join a bench core of Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson and whomever else new head coach Mike Brown sees fit as regular season contributors. They've given the fans a lot to look forward to this fall, and the lack of their usual baggage is even more reason to get excited about their contending potential.

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