The 3 Burning Questions the Knicks Must Address in Training Camp

The Knicks enter the 2026-27 season as the reigning NBA Champions and, almost as surprisingly, with perhaps the greatest stability in the league.

After their first championship in 53 years, the Knicks retained much of last year’s roster, losing only Mitchell Robinson and Ariel Hukporti in free agency. In Robinson’s place is veteran center Andre Drummond, and over the last two weeks, the Knicks signed several free agents to non-guaranteed training camp deals: Bruce Brown, John Konchar, James Wiseman, Drew Eubanks and Ochai Ogbaji. It remains to be seen whether any of those players will actually make the final roster.

And yet, for a team bringing back 10 of its top 11 players from last season, there remains some intrigue about how this team will shape up, from the final roster to the rotation to its overall level of play.

Below, I outline three burning questions heading into Knicks training camp.

1. Can Mohammed Diawara become a legitimate rotation wing?

Knicks fans probably need to slow down slightly on Diawara. Yes, Diawara had a legitimately promising rookie season where he showed a respectable three-point shot, a solid handle, good defensive instincts, and surprising court vision. But Diawara was not high on opposing teams’ scouting reports, and the sample size is small: 634 total minutes across 67 games.

Nonetheless, as the 51st pick in the 2025 draft, if Diawara can become a rotation-worthy wing—think eighth or ninth man in a rotation—it would be a huge win for the Knicks. And Diawara’s readiness for a consistent role is a huge question for this Knicks season.

Over the last two seasons, the Knicks have been surprisingly thin on the wings outside of the starting trio of OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart. Landry Shamet plays on the wing, but is smaller and has vacillated in and out of the rotation for three years. That has left Knicks coaches either rotating Bridges, Hart, and Anunoby throughout lineups or playing fairly small lineups on the wing.

Enter Diawara, who, at 6-foot-9 and 225 lbs, would give the Knicks much-needed size and depth on the wings. If he sustains his three-point percentage (36.9%), continues to make plays attacking closeouts, and holds up on defense, the Knicks would be looking at a real steal, given where they selected Diawara. Combine that with his new four-year, $11.2 million contract, and Diawara has a chance to become one of the very best values in the whole NBA.

Finding a good rotation player at an important position, then locking him up under contract, is how championship cores stay intact while remaining under the second apron. Diawara’s development this season is one of the most fascinating plotlines of the Knicks’ season.

2. How much can Andre Drummond fill Mitchell Robinson’s shoes?

On paper, the Knicks’ swap of Robinson for Drummond is a pretty significant downgrade. Robinson has his flaws, of course—with availability topping the list—but Robinson is also a historically good offensive rebounder, a strong defender and paint presence, and a vertical offensive threat. Drummond is a very good offensive rebounder (though not to the level of Robinson at this stage of his career) and can do more with the ball in his hands, but he's not the defensive presence or athletic force Robinson is. There’s a reason why one was paid $15 million per year, and the other was available for the minimum.

So, just how much can Drummond fill Robinson’s shoes? One way to look at it is by price. Drummond has a cap hit of $2.4 million this season. Robinson’s cap hit with the Celtics is $15 million.

Given that Robinson’s Value Over Replacement Player was 1.6 last year while Drummond’s was 0.4, is it fair to ask if Drummond can be half as good as Robinson for about an eighth of the price? That seems like a fair bar for Drummond to clear. If he can even near Robinson’s impact off the bench, then the Knicks will be in good shape.

But if Drummond struggles or simply doesn’t make much of an impact, the Knicks will almost surely be scouring the trade market to find another center. Many fans assume that process is already underway, with trade rumors floating around Miles McBride.

Backup center may not seem like a major focal point for a reigning champion that is well positioned to make a run at another championship. But this particular reigning champion also starts Karl-Anthony Towns, who is foul-prone and, at 31, likely to be eased through the regular season to be fresh for the playoffs. Drummond could end up seeing a lot of minutes this year.

3. Can the Knicks maintain their postseason momentum?

We’re going big-picture here rather than several other interesting issues like McBride’s extension/trade scenarios, Josh Hart’s three-point shooting, Jalen Brunson’s wrist, and more.

The 2025-26 season was a roller-coaster ride for the Knicks: the team had a very solid, but still up-and-down 53-win regular season, followed by a 2-1 first-round deficit, before turning into an actual juggernaut that steamrolled through the playoffs and won 13 straight games while posting the greatest point differential in NBA history. Their NBA Finals performance was largely a cardiac event, featuring double-digit deficit comebacks in each of the four wins.

It was an unforgettable season and begs the question: what do we make of the 2026-27 Knicks?

Did the Knicks find something in the playoffs that is sustainable? During that 13-game win streak, the Knicks largely found the right balance on offense between actions, touches, and shots for all of their players. No, role players like Anunoby, Bridges, and Shamet are not going to shoot scorched-earth percentages from three as they did for long stretches of the postseason, but it seemed like all of the team, from Brunson and Towns down, found the right rhythm and balance to their offense. That rhythm let the team hum—they posted a sizzling 119.9 offensive rating in the playoffs.

And on the other end, we saw Towns play the best defense of his life, while the wings hounded opposing players and effectively covered for Brunson when other teams hunted him. The Knicks were quietly a top-10 defense during last year’s regular season but also dialed it up a notch in the postseason. Can that carry over?

These answers won’t entirely present themselves in training camp, but training camp may also set the stage for how the team will look in the regular season. Will it be an energetic, enthusiastic camp that shows a team hungry to top its regular-season win mark and attempt to repeat? The Knicks' decision to bring in veterans on training camp deals to let them compete for roster spots seems like a smart way to add some juice to camp.

Even so, will the players look lethargic from a shortened, busy offseason that comes with playing into June and enjoying the limelight from winning in New York? It's a long way to April, and the Knicks may pace themselves from the get-go.

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