The game was over before it started.
Knicks head coach Mike Brown opted to rest his entire starting lineup on Monday night — along with key reserves Landry Shamet, Josh Hart (back), and Ariel Hukporti — leaving a shorthanded second and third unit to face the Washington Wizards in the fourth of five preseason games.
Even against a Wizards team projected to finish with the NBA’s worst record for a second straight season, the outcome wasn’t much of a mystery.
Washington cruised to a 120-103 victory at Madison Square Garden, ballooning their lead to as many as 36 points before pulling the plug on their own mainstays, including C.J. McCollum, Khris Middleton, 2024 No. 2 pick Alex Sarr, and Bilal Coulibaly.
The loss drops the Knicks to 3-1 in the preseason, with one final exhibition remaining before the regular-season opener back at MSG on Oct. 22 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
KOLEK SHINES, DADIET STILL SEARCHING
With limited offensive firepower available, point guard Tyler Kolek led the way for New York. The second-round pick scored a team-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting off the bench, adding six assists, four rebounds, and a steal in 23 minutes. Miles McBride chipped in 11 points on 12 shot attempts, while Guerschon Yabusele finished with 11 points on 50% shooting.
But all eyes were once again on Pacome Dadiet — and once again, the results were uneven.
The 2024 first-rounder got the start but struggled to find rhythm in his 25 minutes, scoring eight points on 2-of-7 shooting (2-of-6 from three) with two offensive rebounds and little else on the stat sheet.
Before tipoff, Brown was optimistic about the 6-8 wing’s potential but acknowledged the raw edges still showing.
“He’s just gotta continue to understand how big he is. He’s long. He’s a big wing. At times he doesn’t utilize it. We always talk about playing big and he doesn’t utilize it all the time, and that’s just being young,” Brown said. “And at times he’s a little quiet because he’s young and he’s unsure of what he should be saying or doing, so we keep trying to throw him into the fire as much as possible is something that I’d like to do.”
Dadiet has now shot just 7-of-21 across four preseason games, and his role heading into the regular season remains uncertain — especially with New York facing difficult cap decisions.
Brown said he isn’t sure how many minutes Dadiet will get once the games count, and there’s a scenario where his salary is included in a trade to help the Knicks remain below the second apron if they choose to keep both Malcolm Brogdon and Shamet on standard contracts.
“I don’t know how many minutes [Pacome] is gonna get per game, but he definitely has a chance to be a player in this league for a long time, and you wanna help try to speed that development up because you see a lot of good things,” Brown said. “You see he can run, he can cut, he’s big so he does a pretty good job of finishing, and he can shoot the basketball, and you couple that with his ability to play defense, and you have a pretty good prospect, especially for his age.”
WHAT’S NEXT
The Knicks close out their preseason on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden against the Charlotte Hornets. After that, the coaching staff will finalize roster decisions — and shift focus to ensuring the starting five is ready to open the season with a statement against a Cavaliers team that won 64 games a year ago.
