Last season, the Knicks had two All-Star starters. This season, under new head coach Mike Brown, they have only one.
It’s a glaring omission that, in many respects, defines the first half of the Knicks’ season under new sideline leadership.
The NBA announced its Eastern and Western Conference starters for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles on Monday, and for the second consecutive season, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson punched his ticket to the first unit in the league’s revamped main event in mid-February.
But Karl-Anthony Towns has regressed by virtually every metric in the new-look Knicks system, and after earning his first All-Star starting nod last season under Tom Thibodeau, Towns did not make the cut this time around.
Instead, All-Star voters — comprised of fans, media and players — selected Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey and Detroit’s Cade Cunningham. In the West, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Los Angeles’ Luka Doncic, OKC’s reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic, and San Antonio Spurs’ 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama round out the starters fro All-Star 2026.
Towns must rely on opposing coaches to earn an All-Star nod as a one of the reserves, which will be announced Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. on NBC ahead of the premiere of Sunday Night Basketball.
The tab as a starter was expected for Brunson, who led the Knicks to the third-ever NBA title and has steadied the ship as the team adjusts to its new coach’s style. Brunson, previously sidelined with an ankle sprain, entered Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day matchup against the Dallas Mavericks averaging 28.2 points and 6.1 assists per game on 48.1% shooting from the field and 38.8% shooting from downtown, reflecting a jump greater than two points per game from last season under Thibodeau. Monday marked his third career All-Star appearance, all three coming since his arrival at Madison Square Garden in the summer of 2022.
But Towns, a six-time All-Star, has been lost within the Knicks offense, has been foul-prone for a second consecutive season in New York, and naturally is not a strong defender, a weakness he typically compensates for by scoring the ball at a rapid rate. This season, Towns is taking roughly 2.5 fewer shots per game. He is averaging nearly four fewer points per game and is shooting a career-worst 46.6% from the field and 35.7% from downtown.
Plus the Knicks, who were once in contention for the East’s No. 1 seed, entered their MLK Day matchup against the Mavericks as losers of eight of their last 10 games, the tenth ending on a wide-open Towns three that airballed late in regulation against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.
Towns has steep competition to get into the All-Star Game as a reserve, especially for a Knicks team that suddenly can’t find its way into the win column.
Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson, for example, is a shoo-in: 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists a game is an open and shut case. Donovan Mitchell will get in as an All-Star reserve before Towns. So will at least one player from the Orlando Magic, the most healthy of which has been new addition Desmond Bane. The Toronto Raptors, too, deserve an All-Star this season, and Brandon Ingram has helped breathe life into the North. One of Norman Powell, Tyler Here or Bam Adebayo will get in for the Miami Heat, and Josh Giddey should get in as a nightly triple double threat for the Chicago Bulls.
Then there’s the fun bunch: Can LaMelo Ball volume his way to an All-Star nod in Charlotte? There’s a case to be made Michael Porter Jr. — even on the 10-win Nets — deserves some consideration given his blatant disregard for jump-shot defense in a career year in Brooklyn.
From there, the Pistons (30-10) deserve a second All-Star before the Knicks, a potential spot for enforcing center Jalen Duren. The Celtics, too, have strung together better basketball by leapfrogging the Knicks in the first half of the season. The Cavaliers have Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, while the Celtics have Derrick White and Payton Pritchard posting nearly identical stat lines.
Towns looked like an All-Star lock last season, even while underutilized by Thibodeau, as the Knicks made their way to the franchise’s first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years.
This year, he doesn’t look any better than any other player outside of the East’s starting five. And given the Knicks’ fall from grace, there’s a shot he doesn’t get in at all, though 20 points and 11 rebounds is a hard stat line to ignore in any season.
“You know KAT’s a great player and I’ll tell you he can do a lot of great things on the floor. He rebounds with some of the best of ’em, especially for a guy that quote unquote isn’t as athletic as some of the better rebounders of the past. He just has a knack for the ball so my whole thing is telling him stay aggressive offensively,” Brown said when asked about his experience coaching Towns. “I’m gonna keep trying to help [him] out. I’m gonna keep trying to find ways to help [him] get good looks and touch the ball and make plays, and keep doing your part by bringing it as best you can defensively, and when you have an opportunity to score, go score it, and when you don’t go rebound it. It’s as simple as that.”
