Knicks fans get the privilege of seeing their team before 28 other fanbases to kick off this 2025-26 season, as New York prepares to face the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday in the NBA’s Abu Dhabi Games. Though the core of the roster remains intact from last year’s run to the Eastern Conference Finals, a new head coach and roster spot battle make these exhibitions more intriguing than usual.

Here are the five biggest things to watch this preseason for the Knicks...

How the starting five evolves

After the Knicks’ defeat at the hands of the Pacers, a lot of attention turned to their starting lineup of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns. Whether by choice (playing more Miles McBride for Hart) or by force (Mitchell Robinson’s injury) then-head coach Tom Thibodeau heavily relied on that five despite declining returns, until he was forced to switch with his back against the wall.

Many expect the Knicks to go with the adjusted five of Robinson in for Hart, or perhaps McBride, under the new leadership of Mike Brown. These games should give us some clarity on what to expect, or serve as a stage for some experimentation.

Ultimately, New York will need to be comfortable with a combination of looks in a matchup-dependent league with a couple of injury-prone options for that fifth spot. Expect a fluid process, perhaps newcomer Geurschon Yabusele gets a chance, but no final decisions anytime soon.

The new-look offense

One of the biggest changes expected from Coach Brown this season is the injection of a quicker, facile offense. He’s preaching an increased tempo, output from three, and means to get paint touches, a large part of the promise in hiring him to replace a Conference Finals-reaching coach.

How this actually conveys on the floor is still a mystery. Brown stated Brunson will get the ball in his hands to close games; how bought in will he be to the new system in the prior 43 minutes?

As part of his wish for 40+ threes a night, Brown wants Brunson taking more on catch-and-shoots. If that happens, who is going to be generating that shot for him, and how? There are real roster limitations to consider — Towns as a playmaker has been a mixed experiment — should we expect much more ball handling out of Bridges?

It should be fun watching this play out in a low-stakes environment. It will obviously take a good bit into the regular season for this team to really click, but the seeds will be planted in the coming days and weeks, and we can get a glimpse of what’s to come.

Different team emphases

Under Thibodeau, no matter the matchup or roster change, the Knicks would inevitably fall neatly back into their Thibs-ball identity: slow the pace, pound the glass, play smashmouth defense. While some of these qualities won't be going anywhere, this will be the first time in years fans see the Knicks emphasize new things on the court and maybe culture a new identity.

It will be interesting to see what that is. Brown has been less revealing on the defensive specifics, but expect the Knicks to still favor offensive rebounding with Robinson healthy and the many bigs around him.

Previously, New York exclusively played drop coverage in pick-and-roll and emphasized protecting the rim above all, sometimes sacrificing too many open threes to the opposition. What will Brown’s fundamentals be, and how will he get Towns to buy into the scheme?

Popular in the Community