At the halfway point of the 2024-25 season, the Knicks stand at 26-15, good for third in the Eastern Conference. It’s been a year of ups and downs since overhauling their roster over the offseason, and the midway mark serves as a natural point to look back and take stock of the season thus far.
Here is the 2024-25 Knicks midseason report card, with each rotation player and the head coach graded on their performance relative to expectations.
Jalen Brunson – A
Brunson’s ascent to stardom has continued without obstacle this season, with averages of 25.7 points, three rebounds, and 7.6 assists. With the new weapons around him, he’s adjusted to needing to score less and play-make more, and bumped his efficiency.
He’s had a recent shooting slump, can get bogged down in hero ball, and his passing needs another leap to really complete his game, but these are footnotes in a larger story. That story is that Brunson continues to be the star Knicks fans have dreamed of since the days of Patrick Ewing.
Mikal Bridges – C+
Bridges’ game has ranged from excellent to terrible depending on the month, with inconsistency being the biggest gripe through 41 games. On average he’s been fine, with impressive efficiency out of the corners and mid-range and largely dependable defense, with the biggest boon being his constant availability.
But he hasn’t been Phoenix’s elite 3-and-D Bridges, nor Brooklyn’s leading man Bridges, and the proposed hybrid of the two reared its head for December and that’s about it. There’s no escaping the price New York paid to get him, and he’ll need to do more to meet it.
OG Anunoby – C+
Of all the talk surrounding Bridges’ price and related expectations, Anunoby has somehow dodged that talk despite being in a 24-game slump and earning the second-highest salary on the team. He’s shot 43.6 percent from the field and 28.4 percent from three since a 40-point game against Denver capped a Kawhi Leonard-lite run to start the season, and even his usually reliable nightly defense has stumbled at times.
Still, Anunoby can often look like the only player holding this Knicks defense together, and has been efficient on the whole despite this rough month and a half. Playing every game could be taking its toll, but whatever the reason fans should expect a bounceback soon.
Josh Hart – A
Hart caused some waves when he called himself “lost” during the preseason, and naturally has been the Knick most in-tune with his role for the entire regular season. He’s averaging 14.3 points, 9.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists, shooting 67.8 percent from two and 37.7 percent from three.
Those aren’t just career best numbers, but some of the most impressive in the league, with a two-point efficiency among the best and a rebounding rate that would suggest he’s seven feet tall. More impressive is his play beyond the numbers: his willingness to shoot and make the three, his extra efforts that break teams, and his leadership pulling together almost a wholly new team.
Karl-Anthony Towns – A
When the Knicks traded for Towns to be their starting center, the offensive potential was clearly through the roof, but how they’d fare defensively was in question. Forty-one games in, Knicks fans should be happy that the former was understated and the latter isn’t as bad as feared.
Towns has revolutionized a once stilted Knicks offense into one of the best in the league behind MVP-lite numbers: 25.4 points, 13.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists on 59.3 percent shooting from two and 44.9 percent shooting from three. He’s shown strong effort and some real flashes defensively, and while still flawed he isn’t nearly the sieve he was advertised to be, and much of the team disappointment on that end falls on other guys.
Miles McBride – C+
McBride looked poised for a potential Sixth Man of the Year campaign, with many of this summer’s moves made possible on the back of his breakout season in 2023-24. A couple of nagging injuries has kept him from getting in a groove though, and when he has played the results have been mixed.
His defense and three-point shooting are still on point, but his on-ball creation either regressed or plateaued. There’s still plenty of time for him to have a big year, and maybe it’s unfair to ask him to carry such a thin Knicks bench, but we should hope to see more from McBride in the back half of the season.
Cam Payne – B
From the outset of the preseason it was evident Payne would be a rotation player after bouncing around various league benches in the years prior. The Knicks were getting a sparkplug that could handle an offense and shoot at will, and he’s done all of the above.
Jericho Sims – C
We’re now in year four of the Sims experiment, and he’s proved out to be a strong interior defender and dependable screener. Unfortunately the rest of his game hasn’t panned out, and whether or not his minutes are positive has been matchup-dependent, largely pushing him out of the rotation.
Precious Achiuwa – C+
Achiuwa has played up to par this season, but can look overwhelmed at times, revealing the limitations of relying on him as a backup five. That configuration struggles against real size, but he’s found success paired with Towns, so expect more of that look even if Mitchell Robinson’s return diminishes his minutes.
Tom Thibodeau – B
After carefully crafting and perfecting a team identity over the past two seasons, the Knicks blew up their roster in pursuit of a championship, leaving Thibodeau with the job of making these new pieces fit in time for April and May. A 26-15 record with the fifth best net rating in the league is a pretty clear indication he’s done a solid job given that tremendous challenge.
It’s been imperfect, as was expected, and some of Thibodeau’s nagging habits are once again riling up the fanbase. But there aren’t ten coaches out there that can do it better, and he and his team will ultimately be judged on how they perform in the Playoffs, not in January.
Overall team grade – B
Not the contender they want to be yet, but an objectively good start in hopes of getting there.
