A Crossroads Moment for Tyler Kolek

The Knicks are one of the hottest teams in basketball. They are riding a five-game winning streak, sitting in second place in the East, winners of nine out of their last ten games, and have won the NBA Cup. But with the level that Oklahoma City and Denver have been playing at, many feel that the Knicks need to make one more trade to truly contend for a championship this season. One of the players that continues to be mentioned in trade rumors to fuel that discussion is Tyler Kolek.

Kolek has been a bit of a polarizing figure in New York, with some fans begging for him to get more minutes, while others view him as a liability. With Landry Shamet and Deuce McBride missing time, Kolek has received more opportunity from Mike Brown. He has looked excellent at times, proving that he could be a rotation guard in the NBA. It’s an important juncture for Kolek, a moment where he could transform into a meaningful contributor or become just another player used as salary filler at the trade deadline.

When the Knicks acquired Tyler Kolek in a draft-day trade in 2024, there was some optimism that he could be a high-functioning backup point guard who could operate in a TJ McConnell sort of role. And because he was a four-year college player, there was a sense that he could fit in with the team and contribute right away. What was not considered in that equation was that Kolek was playing for Tom Thibodeau as a rookie—typically not a recipe for playing time.

As a rookie, Kolek appeared in 41 games and averaged 7.2 minutes per game. 19 of those games were in garbage time, meaning that Kolek truly only played in 22 games with meaningful rotation minutes as a rookie. This season, he has appeared in 21 games, with 17 of those being true rotation minutes. The gap has been so wide in his role that he has nearly surpassed his minute total from last year.

Despite the increase, the team has continuously brought in veteran point guards to the mix who have impacted Kolek’s opportunity. As a team trying to win a championship, this makes sense as he acclimates to the challenges of the NBA game. Last year, they brought in Cam Payne and Delon Wright, who averaged 15.1 and 16.4 minutes, respectively. Payne was the backup for most of the year, appearing in 72 games while Wright played in 16 games as a trade deadline acquisition.

The same seemed to be in the cards this season when the team signed Malcolm Brogdon to an Exhibit 9 deal in the offseason. This was short-lived, however, as Brogdon retired from basketball before the regular season began. That occurrence opened an opportunity for Kolek to cement himself as Jalen Brunson’s backup. But after four games, Mike Brown reduced his minutes and did not play him in four of the next ten games. It seemed that Kolek was destined to be moved for another veteran point guard.

But injuries to Landry Shamet and Deuce McBride gave him another opportunity, where he has been averaging 13.4 minutes per game over the last 11. In those minutes, he has proven to be a solid contributor off the bench and an excellent change of pace to Brunson. With this renewed opportunity, Kolek has realized that he is at a crossroads moment in his young career—and he has played like it.

Kolek has always been profiled as a skilled guard who was an excellent passer with enough shooting ability to keep defenses aware of him on the floor. With more minutes, he improved even more as a passer—moving from the 70th to 84th percentile in assist rate and from the 94th to the 98th percentile in assist-to-usage rate ratio.

His shooting has become more reliable, and his two-point accuracy has skyrocketed from 35.3% last year to 60% this year. He’s been especially excellent from the mid-range, shooting 54%, which is in the 95th percentile of the league.

Those numbers are important because it means Kolek is doing some of the things that Brunson does (mid-range shooting and playmaking) at a substantial level—ensuring that the Knicks offense has continuity when its best player is on the bench.

While the offense has always been a strong suit for Kolek, the thing that has kept him on the bench is his defense, or lack thereof. At 6’2”, he is never going to be an elite defender. But this year, he has displayed more toughness and played the passing lanes better than he did as a rookie. His steal rate has jumped from 1.9% last year to 2.5% this year, which is in the 95th percentile of the league. Kolek, at the very least, has proven not to be a net-negative on defense, which makes giving him more minutes justifiable for Mike Brown.

We saw this at work during the Cup Final against the Spurs, where Kolek logged 20 minutes and made big shots while competing on defense. In the postgame with Amazon Prime, he mentioned that he wanted to embody toughness for this team—it’s a line that shows a young player who knows what he has to do to keep his rotation spot.

With the Knicks likely considering their options at the trade deadline to move someone like Kolek or Guerschon Yabusele for a more experienced point guard like Jose Alvarado, Kolek is giving Leon Rose more to think about. He is proving that he belongs in this rotation and is a player who can be an important piece to the championship formula. This is his crossroads moment, and it appears that after some time riding the bench, Tyler Kolek is on the right path for himself and for the Knicks.