Injuries in the NBA are where a team’s true limits are tested, and for the New York Knicks, the loss of two of their top three players has sparked the rise of unsung heroes. With Julius Randle and OG Anunoby each having been sidelined for a significant amount of time this season, the Knicks have turned to their motley crew of role players, led by Josh Hart, Miles McBride, and Donte DiVincenzo, to provide extra backup for superstar Jalen Brunson and keep their hopes at homecourt advantage alive for the playoffs, currently sitting at four in the Eastern Conference standings.
Josh Hart
Perhaps the most crucial of the Knicks role players this season in the wake of all the injuries has been Josh Hart. He has been the embodiment of the grit and tenacity that this team plays with.
In the realm of basketball and especially in the NBA, height often reigns supreme when it comes to cleaning the glass at a high rate – and then there’s Josh Hart. Among a crowd of towering giants, Hart is the obvious outlier at the top of the rebounding list when it comes to stature, standing at just 6’4″. Despite this, he continues to defy the odds on the boards, carving out a niche for himself as one of the league’s most prolific rebounding guards and a fan-favorite of the Knicks faithful.
Of all guards in the NBA, the only person with more games of double-digit rebounding numbers than Hart (26 games), is Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic (29 games), a man who has been in MVP conversations since essentially his sophomore season and puts up triple-doubles on nearly a nightly basis.
And since we’re on the topic of triple-doubles… Hart is top five in the league in that category as well, with six total on the season and all coming within the calendar year. The only people ahead of him are Domantas Sabonis (25 total), Nikola Jokic (22 total), Luka Doncic (19 total), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (9 total). What makes this especially unorthodox, though, is that in his 372 career games played over a span of six seasons before this one, he had a total of ZERO.
Hart is boxing so above his weight right now that it’s even caught the attention of notoriously fastidious Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau.
“I think Josh has been phenomenal. You just can’t say enough about all the intangibles that Josh brings to our team,” Thibodeau said to media following the Knicks 105-93 victory over their cross-town rival Brooklyn Nets on March 23.
Since the All-Star break, Josh Hart is top-ten in rebounds per game amongst all players, not just guards, with a staggering 11.5 per game. This is ahead of notable names such as 7’4” rookie of the year candidate Victor Wembanyama (11.3 rpg) and All-Star caliber big man Jarrett Allen (10.9 rpg). The next smallest players ahead of Hart on the list are Jalen Duren and Anthony Davis, each standing at 6’10”, a full 6 inches taller than Hart.
Miles McBride
While Josh Hart is the glue that is holding this team together, he still might not even be the best story coming out of this Knicks team for the season. No, I believe that honor has to go to Miles “Deuce” McBride.
A third-year player, McBride had not seen a single consistent stretch of playing time at any point over his first two seasons and it wasn’t even until midway through this season, following the trade of RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors, when he began to crack the rotation. And man, he has not looked back.
The very same day the trade became official, McBride inked a 3-year, $13M extension with New York; A deal that’s looking like an ultra-bargain for the Knicks right now.
From averaging a mere 4.3 minutes per game in October to a staggering 33.8 minutes per game in March, Deuce has not only seen himself become a key member of New York’s rotation but a guy that the coaching staff can put their full confidence into in pivotal moments. He’s putting the league on notice, and word is starting to get around.
“You now have a guy that Tom Thibodeau is gonna have faith in and confidence in… that’s the difference now,” said ESPN basketball analyst Tim Legler on JJ Redick’s The Old Man and the Three podcast. “You’ve got another guy that you’re not gonna hesitate to go to, even in important moments in a playoff series.”
To really put into perspective how meteoric his rise has been, here’s a graph (via StatMuse.com) illustrating McBride’s playtime by month this season:
Not pictured in this graphic: McBride’s last five games, each of which he played in at least 40 minutes (two being 47 and 48-minute games) and averaged 21.6 points on 55.2% shooting from the field and 48.9% from three.
Deuce opened New York’s last game against the Raptors in Toronto on Wednesday on 6/6 shooting from three-point range, tying his career-high for threes in a game in just a single quarter. He finished the game with a tied career-high in points at a total of 29 (10-17 FGM) and a career-high in threes made (9-14 3PM).
The increase in playing time has allowed McBride to find his rhythm within the flow of the offense, increasing his three-pointer percentage from 25.0% in his rookie season and 29.9% in his sophomore season to a whopping 40.6% this season Pair this with 94 feet of pestering defense and it’s pretty easy to see how this guy has gotten on Tom Thibodeau’s short list of go-to players.
Donte DiVincenzo
After seeing Miles McBride’s percentage from beyond the arc for the season, would you be surprised if I told you that he’s not even the Knicks’ three-point specialist? Enter Donte DiVincenzo. If you want to talk about earning over Tom Thibodeau’s trust, this guy has the ultimate green light and is having a career year to show for it.
DiVincenzo scorched the visiting Detroit Pistons in the Garden for a career-high 40 points and Knicks franchise record 11 three-pointers en route to a 25-point blowout victory on Monday night, much to the displeasure of opposing head coach Monty Williams.
“I don’t care about their team. I couldn’t care less. Those guys, the way they got those threes. I don’t want to be a part of that story,” Williams said.
Josh Hart, who amongst his many statical anomalies may also be in the running for the most quotable player this season, was quick to come to the defense of his teammate.
“If he didn’t want to be part of the story, he should’ve told his guys to defend better.”
Mic drop.
On the season, DiVincenzo is averaging a career-high 14.9 points per game on 40% from deep and 8.4 3PA per game. Over his last 25 games, he’s up to 21.4 points per game on 12.3 3PA per game, with his three-point percentage only dipping down slightly to 38%, still nearly two full points over league average. Since the turn of 2024, only Stephen Curry has attempted more threes.
Similar to McBride, DiVincenzo’s 4-year, $46.8M contract he signed with New York this past summer is starting to make the Knicks front office look like they can see into the future.
With just 12 games until the start of the playoffs and Knicks fans anxious to see the team at full strength again, it remains up to Jalen Brunson and company to hold it down in the seeding.