Biggest Overreactions to Every NBA Team’s First 2 Weeks

Initial Overreaction: The Karl-Anthony Towns trade was a mistake.

Status of Initial Overreaction: We need to adjust.

Karl-Anthony Towns has turned in a pair of monster performances since this clear overreaction. His most recent outing, on Monday against the Rockets, was more of a microcosm of the KAT experience: Moments of “He gets it” contrasted with early foul trouble and offensive detachment and defensive issues and general so-so-ness.

The New York Knicks themselves are not blameless in the unevenness they’re receiving from Towns. As Knicks Film School’s Jonathan Macri recently explained, everyone must figure out how to properly involve him when teams switch or stash smaller players on him.

That brings us to the new take. And remember, this is meant to be an overreaction.

New Overreaction: There is a not-insignificant chance we look back on the Knicks’ summer of 2024 as one of the worst offseasons of all time.

This is a safe space…right? Guess we’re about to find out either way.

New York clearly deserves more time before any of us, myself included, actually commit to this stance. But none of us should understate the downside, particularly after everything we have seen so far.

As of right now, the Knicks look to have unloaded (almost) every trade chip in their arsenal while failing to make themselves any less dependent on Jalen Brunson. Their depth is lacking, in part because of injuries. But whether a healthy Precious Achiuwa and Mitchell Robinson inject stability into the defense, without compromising the offense, is debatable.

Neither of them, though, imbue the rotation with additional shot creation. Brunson’s usage rate is up from last season and an even larger share of his buckets (75 percent) are going unassisted compared to 2023-24 (67.6 percent). The Knicks were always going to travel as far as their floor general could take them. Generally speaking, though, you don’t see teams go all-in without also increasing their best player’s margin for error.

Once more, with feeling: New York deserves time to figure this out. Its starting five is a net plus even when factoring in the opening-night shellacking at the hands of Boston.

The Knicks have also won the minutes KAT and Mikal Bridges have logged without Brunson, a huge development if it holds. But the overall depth and secondary shot creation for this group is shaky—far less of a given than it should be relative to everything and everyone New York gave up to get here.