Relatively speaking, it’s already been a week of milestones for the Knicks.
Aside from the fact that they acquired a healthy, solid, starting-caliber point guard for the first time in a decade—and even longer ago if you want to find one who was in his prime—New York used its early free-agent funds to re-sign one of its former draft picks on a multi-year deal; something it hadn’t done since striking a deal with Charlie Ward way back in 1999.
But for all the trivia that’s emerging from the Knicks’ spending spree, there’s a more basic question at play: Are the team’s moves—snagging Jalen Brunson for four years and $104 million, bringing in backup big Isaiah Hartenstein, and re-inking Mitchell Robinson—a step toward making them a playoff team again in 2023?