Knickerbockers, strap in. This off-season is about to get ugly. Gone are the days when the NBA’s best were dying to play at the Garden. Now, even finding a head coach is proving to be complicated. After they fired Tom Thibodeau, people started thinking: What more did he have to do with this overachieving roster? Win the championship? Well, even Gregg Popovich would struggle to do that with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns defending like they did. So Thibs doing the same was always a far cry.

Sure, winning the championship quickly is the main aim for the most popular team in the NBA. But do they have the players for that? Absolutely not. And that starts at the top. On their day, Brunson can get you 26/2.9/7.3 a game, while KAT can get you a solid 24.4/12.8/3.1 a game. Not bad right? But well, OKC is a perfect example. If the players on your team aren’t two-wayers by nature, then the only way for them should be out the door.

And if an NBA legend like Draymond Green suggests the same, there might be more than what even meets the eye.

“On the defensive end, I ain’t talking about what Jalen Brunson and Karl Towns do and who they are as players. I’m just talking about over the course of an NBA season, Jalen Brunson and Karl Towns are two people over the course of that season that you say. We can pick on them. To go to the conference finals with two guys that you can pick on, I think that’s brilliant… I actually like that talent. [But it] actually has to align with this time period. Like you can like a talent, but if it don’t align with that time period, it actually doesn’t work,” said Draymond Green on his show.

Let’s take the playoffs for instance, with Brunson under the microscope first. Opponents scored 124.6 points per 100 possessions when Brunson was on the floor in the 2024 postseason—well above the league average of 110. And in Game 1 of the ECF against the Pacers, their starting 5 posted a team defensive rating of 167.4 in their 138–135 OT loss—by far the worst single-game defensive mark in the 2025 playoffs. When Brunson and Towns were on the court together in the Eastern Finals, their net rating was –20. Not what you want from your star players.

But there’s rumors that KAT might be traded away from the group. That too just a year after they threw the kitchen sink to get him here. Sure, he isn’t the best defensively for a man of his size, and is still owed around $170 million over the next three seasons. However, how will the Knicks replace him?

Jalen Brunson safe, but Karl-Anthony Towns could be on the way out

Towns signed a 4-year, $220,441,984 designated veteran extension with the Wolves before his exit. Now that’s a big sum to pay one man if you’re out for a big-money overhaul. Making the ECF clearly wasn’t enough for them, which is why they sacked Thibs in the first place. But the same forces could come to haunt KAT in the off-season, with New York on the verge of letting him go despite a personally successful first season at the Big Apple.

“Towns, based off his contract alone, could be a casualty if the Knicks decide to go big-game hunting,” The Athletic wrote. “Overall, though, Towns’ first season in New York was a success. He was one of the 15 best players in the NBA, finished second in the league in rebounding with 12.8 rebounds per game and delivered one of the most memorable moments of the season when he scored 20 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals to rally the Knicks to a win over the Pacers.”

There might be a reprieve for their Dominican, though. He might be the biggest name player they’re ready to sell, but that doesn’t necessarily make him a liability. The only way they let his averages walk out the door is in case of a Giannis Antetokounmpo or a Kevin Durant trade. And how likely is that to happen? Not very.

How justified do you think these calls are, though? Would the Knicks even reach the ECF without Jalen Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns? Probably not. But on the other hand, their current situation really can’t be blamed on Tom Thibodeau alone. A big dilemma, for sure.