Knicks, Miles McBride Grateful For Discounted Deal

The New York Knicks are currently led by a backcourt sensation that took on a discount to extend his stay in Manhattan.

Jalen Brunson has been pretty valuable, too.

The Knicks and Miles McBride are closing on a full year to the day (Dec. 30) when the latter signed a three-year, $13 million extension to stick around on the Knicks’ bench. The latter was afforded a chance to look back on the deal in the latest from Stefan Bondy of the New York Post and reveled in the glory of a relatively discounted contract that the Knicks are undoubtedly grateful for with each passing day.

“There are a lot of people that are out here struggling, and I’m having fun,” McBride told Bondy. “I’m playing well. I’m on a great team. I’m more than happy … I’m grateful because you never know what can happen in this game. I feel like I’m happy.”

To put the McBride payday in perspective, the defending champion Boston Celtics have sixth man Peyton Pritchard on a four-year, $30 million deal from his rookie contract extension. In league-leading Cleveland, Caris LeVert is is in the latter year of a two-season, $32 million deal.

So muted was McBride’s signing that it wasn’t even the team’s biggest transaction of the day, that honor instead going to the acquisition of OG Anunoby from the Toronto Raptors. With Immanuel Quickley part of the northbound exports, McBride was called upon to be one of the top spell options to Brunson despite mostly working at the fringes of the New York rotation since arriving as a second-round pick in 2021.

The gambit has paid off: within the closing calendar year, McBride ranks in the top 30 among all bench players in points (453), steals (41), and three-pointers (86). He proved to be equally effective in spot starting duty after the signing, posting an average of 17.9 points in 14 such showings last year.

Already well-regarded for his defense, McBride’s sterling was interrupted by an injury that removed five games from his early season docket. Cameron Payne peformed respectably in his absence, but head coach Tom Thibodeau couldn’t help but sense something was missing without McBride on the floor.

“He’s another guy that can shoot the ball and he can get into the paint and break it down off the dribble, and he plays off people extremely well,” Thibodeau lauded in another report from The Post, this one from Peter Botte. “I think when he gets going defensively, he’ll be a big plus for us.”

McBride gets another chance to showcase his talents off the bench on Saturday when the Knicks face the Detroit Pistons (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

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