Knicks' Wing Rotation Is Ripe for Change Despite Returning Faces

Not every defending champion has the kind of luxury the Knicks will have with returning almost all of their rotation. In most cases, that would lead to the expectation that the rotation and minutes distribution would more or less remain unchanged.

For New York, though, there’s a chance the 2026-27 wing rotation actually looks different.

How Knicks could tinker with wing group for 2026-27 campaign

How different it’ll look is difficult to fully predict months before the season even begins. But even with Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Landry Shamet, Deuce McBride, Jordan Clarkson and Mohamed Diawara all returning, we could see a shakeup.

While the Eastern Conference has gotten significantly deeper and stronger, the Knicks’ biggest threat remains health. The Celtics, Pacers, 76ers and Raptors (if the Kawhi Leonard trade finally goes through) all have a shot at taking down the Knicks if everything falls into place for them.

But barring any significant injuries, there’s Knicks should be favored against all of those teams. And in an attempt to prioritize health, the Knicks could double down on what they did last season: decrease Anunoby and Bridges’ minutes. Both players hovered around 33 mpg last season.

With both of them being another year older and coming off of a long and strenuous postseason run, pushing them down even further to around 30 mpg, even at the expense of a few regular season wins, seems worthy.

Who would those minutes go to? The easy answer is Diawara. The Knicks clearly believe in the young wing. Them getting his deal done before anybody’s was one of many signs of that.

Diawara smiles — Diawara's role could further expand next season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

He should start the season with plenty of opportunities to play through mistakes. And he should be the main beneficiary of the starting wing’s slight decrease in minutes.

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Clarkson, who already saw his playing time fluctuate last season, start out the year being the odd man out. While he provided a nice spark occasionally, his ceiling at this point in his career is just clearly much lower than Diawara’s.

Another big questions surrounding the rest of the wing minutes will be centered around how the Knicks handle Shamet. The veteran guard is coming off of his best season. When healthy, he was pivotal to Mike Brown’s rotation. From a contributions standpoint, there’s no argument that Shamet deserves to play significant minutes once again this season.

But for two seasons now, Shamet has dealt with injuries. He’s had recurring shoulder injuries, and even dealt with some knee pain late in the season. After seeing just how pivotal he was to the Knicks’ historic postseason run, could he be another guy they opt to limit, even if it’s just a little bit?

They may ultimately choose not to do so, because at the end of the day, he is still just a role player. In fact, he may be one of the players that plays more as Anunoby, Bridges, and even Hart (?) see a slight minutes decrease. But if Shamet ends up being another player that is saved a bit during the regular season, Diawara, as well as McBride, could see a bump in minutes.

McBride is an interesting case because he, more than any other player, has the most variables. Even when he isn’t hitting threes, his defense and gravity helps the team out immensely. But he, like Shamet, has had a hard time staying consistently healthy.

While he hasn’t dealt with any major injuries, he also hasn’t been able to play 70+ games a single time in his career. The reserve guard is also a potential trade candidate given not only his ability, but his incredibly team-friendly deal.

Yet he is also the only player besides Diawara and Kolek that is 25 years or younger and figures to get some actual minutes. Due to his age, trade candidancy, and injury history, he could be viewed as a both a minutes increase and decrease candidate.

These are all among the tough decisions Brown will have as he navigates the rough waters that is the road to defending the throne.

How will he and his staff manage the starters’ regular season minutes given they aren’t getting any younger? Will he default to the veteran Clarkson or prioritize developing the Diawara investment?

Does he want to reward Shamet’s stellar season with a larger role, or save him and his health for the postseason? And how does McBride figure into all of that?

It’s nearly impossible to have a definitive answer to these questions. But what we do know is that there’s a good possibility that the Knicks’ wing rotation and minutes distribution looks a bit different despite the players all being the same.

Add us as a preferred source on Google