After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Eastern Conference · tip-off October 20

New York Knicks

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

49 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 43 to 54 wins.

The market

51.8 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

53-29

2025-26 · net rating +6.4 (5th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 2.4 wins below the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 48 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 51.8 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 49, middle 80%: 43 to 54 Market 51.8

Where we think they finish in the East

Top 6: 85% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 15% Outside the top 10: 0.2%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
2595¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
3096¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
3595¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
4092¢ 98¢ 95¢ 98%
4578¢ 85¢ 82¢ 84%
5060¢ 62¢ 61¢ 45%
5529¢ 30¢ 30¢ 9%
6012¢ 18¢ 15¢ 1%
653¢ 8¢ 6¢ 0%
680¢ 7¢ n/a 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 53-29 (6th in wins)

Points per game
116.510th
Allowed per game
110.15th
Offensive rating
117.53rd
Defensive rating
111.16th
Net rating
+6.45th

2024-25 · 51-31 (5th in wins)

Points per game
115.89th
Allowed per game
111.79th
Offensive rating
116.45th
Defensive rating
112.313th
Net rating
+4.18th

2023-24 · 50-32 (6th in wins)

Points per game
112.819th
Allowed per game
108.22nd
Offensive rating
115.87th
Defensive rating
111.17th
Net rating
+4.75th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-0.1315th
Defense
-3.173rd
Net, games only
+3.046th
Roster value
+3.08

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (5)

  • Andre Drummondfrom PHI
    19.6 min, 6.4 pts a game
  • Drew Eubanksfrom SAC
    13.2 min, 5.2 pts a game
  • James Wisemanfrom IND
    14.8 min, 3.2 pts a game
  • N'Faly Dantefrom ATL
    4.0 min, 0.8 pts a game
1 moredepth and rookies
  • Tyler NickelRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (2)

  • Mitchell Robinsonnow with BOS
    19.6 min, 5.7 pts a game
  • Ariel Hukportinow with PHI
    9.5 min, 2.2 pts a game

DraftKings lists as out right now: N'Faly Dante, Drew Eubanks. They are not in the rotation below.

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Jalen Brunson G · age 30 · 35.5 projected min 2025-26: 74 g, 26.0 pts, 3.3 reb, 6.8 ast

2025-26 · NY

74games
35.1min
26.0pts
3.3reb
FG46.7%689/1475
3P36.9%195/528
FT84.1%354/421

6.8 assists a game

2024-25 · NY

65games
35.4min
26.0pts
2.9reb
FG48.8%585/1200
3P38.3%152/397
FT82.1%368/448

7.3 assists a game

2023-24 · NY

77games
35.4min
28.7pts
3.6reb
FG47.9%790/1648
3P40.1%211/526
FT84.7%421/497

6.7 assists a game

OG Anunoby F · age 29 · 32.1 projected min 2025-26: 67 g, 16.7 pts, 5.2 reb, 2.2 ast

2025-26 · NY

67games
33.2min
16.7pts
5.2reb
FG48.4%389/804
3P38.6%157/407
FT82.8%183/221

2.2 assists a game

2024-25 · NY

74games
36.6min
18.0pts
4.8reb
FG47.6%489/1027
3P37.2%171/460
FT81.0%183/226

2.2 assists a game

2023-24 · NY/TOR

50games
34.1min
14.7pts
4.2reb
FG48.9%282/577
3P38.2%102/267
FT75.3%67/89

2.1 assists a game

Mikal Bridges F · age 30 · 31.5 projected min 2025-26: 81 g, 14.6 pts, 3.9 reb, 3.8 ast

2025-26 · NY

81games
33.3min
14.6pts
3.9reb
FG49.0%472/963
3P37.1%156/420
FT82.7%81/98

3.8 assists a game

2024-25 · NY

81games
37.5min
17.8pts
3.2reb
FG50.0%592/1183
3P35.4%164/463
FT81.4%96/118

3.8 assists a game

2023-24 · BKN

82games
34.8min
19.6pts
4.5reb
FG43.6%564/1294
3P37.2%220/592
FT81.4%258/317

3.6 assists a game

Josh Hart G · age 31 · 30.8 projected min 2025-26: 66 g, 12.0 pts, 7.4 reb, 4.8 ast

2025-26 · NY

66games
30.2min
12.0pts
7.4reb
FG50.8%301/592
3P41.3%100/242
FT72.0%90/125

4.8 assists a game

2024-25 · NY

77games
37.6min
13.6pts
9.6reb
FG52.5%404/770
3P33.3%84/252
FT77.6%159/205

5.9 assists a game

2023-24 · NY

81games
33.4min
9.4pts
8.3reb
FG43.4%295/679
3P31.0%80/258
FT79.1%91/115

4.1 assists a game

Karl-Anthony Towns F · age 30 · 30.0 projected min 2025-26: 75 g, 20.1 pts, 11.9 reb, 3.0 ast

2025-26 · NY

75games
30.9min
20.1pts
11.9reb
FG50.1%517/1032
3P36.8%113/307
FT85.8%357/416

3.0 assists a game

2024-25 · NY

72games
35.0min
24.4pts
12.8reb
FG52.6%639/1215
3P42.0%142/338
FT82.9%339/409

3.1 assists a game

2023-24 · MIN

62games
32.7min
21.8pts
8.3reb
FG50.4%479/951
3P41.6%136/327
FT87.3%255/292

3.0 assists a game

Landry Shamet G · age 29 · 23.6 projected min 2025-26: 51 g, 9.3 pts, 1.8 reb, 1.4 ast

2025-26 · NY

51games
23.0min
9.3pts
1.8reb
FG43.7%159/364
3P39.2%103/263
FT71.1%54/76

1.4 assists a game

2024-25 · NY

50games
15.2min
5.7pts
1.2reb
FG46.1%106/230
3P39.7%62/156
FT66.7%12/18

0.5 assists a game

2023-24 · WSH

46games
15.8min
7.1pts
1.3reb
FG43.1%118/274
3P33.8%53/157
FT82.6%38/46

1.2 assists a game

Miles McBride G · age 26 · 21.9 projected min 2025-26: 41 g, 12.0 pts, 2.4 reb, 2.6 ast

2025-26 · NY

41games
26.3min
12.0pts
2.4reb
FG42.3%171/404
3P41.3%112/271
FT78.7%37/47

2.6 assists a game

2024-25 · NY

64games
25.0min
9.5pts
2.5reb
FG40.6%222/547
3P36.9%115/312
FT81.2%52/64

2.9 assists a game

2023-24 · NY

68games
19.5min
8.3pts
1.5reb
FG45.2%205/454
3P41.0%109/266
FT86.0%43/50

1.7 assists a game

Andre Drummond New here C · age 33 · 20.1 projected min 2025-26: 63 g, 6.4 pts, 8.4 reb, 1.3 ast

2025-26 · PHI

63games
19.6min
6.4pts
8.4reb
FG47.2%159/337
3P35.6%32/90
FT63.1%53/84

1.3 assists a game

2024-25 · PHI

40games
18.7min
7.3pts
7.8reb
FG50.0%117/234
3P15.0%3/20
FT62.2%56/90

0.8 assists a game

2023-24 · CHI

79games
17.1min
8.4pts
9.0reb
FG55.6%267/480
3P0.0%0/3
FT59.2%129/218

0.5 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.