A key New York Knicks guard has received a significant injury update ahead of the club’s Christmas clash against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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Ian Begley of SNY.tv reports that reserve point guard Miles McBride, who has been out of commission since December 7 with an ankle sprain, has been cleared for full-contact scrimmages.
New York hasn’t actually been able to hold any practices since he was cleared, however, thanks to the team’s busy schedule. He has, however, resumed on-court activity with Knicks coaches.
McBride is currently in the second season of a descending three-year, $13 million contract extension he inked with the Knicks back in the 2023-24 season. He’s earning $4.3 million this year and will net $4 million in 2026-27.
The 6-foot-2 West Virginia product, 25, is in the midst of a career year. Through 20 healthy games (nine starts) this season, he’s been averaging 11.6 points on .436/.444/.792 shooting splits, 2.6 boards, 2.5 dimes, and 0.7 swipes a night.
The Knicks may be looking for a bit of an upgrade at this year’s trade deadline around the periphery of their roster.
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James L. Edwards III of The Athletic suggests that the Knicks could try to flip McBride for a defensive upgrade in Chicago Bulls shooting guard Ayo Dosunmu. Edwards notes that the Knicks could package McBride’s contract with the money owed veteran swingman Landry Shamet or one of the club’s two second-year guards, Pacome Dadiet or Tyler Kolek. All three players earn between $2.2 million and $2.9 million.
That said, Edwards believes the Knicks should hang on to McBride’s contract, rather than sacrifice his shooting for Dosunmu’s defense.
“It’s possible New York sees overlap with McBride and Jordan Clarkson as scoring guards and is more interested in adding someone closer to a traditional point guard,” Edwards writes. “However, McBride is one of the best value contracts in basketball and, again, a premier shooter who is owed only $4.3 million this season and just $3.9 million next season.”
He’s connecting on 44.4 percent of his 6.2 triple tries a night this year, good for the 14th-best such mark in the league this season.
Dosunmu, who’s also 25, has been connecting on an even better 3-point clip — although he hasn’t traditionally been a knockdown long range shooter over the course of his career, he’s making 46.6 percent of his 4.0 takes from beyond the arc this year. In 22 games thus far, the 6-foot-4 University of Illinois product has been averaging 14.8 points on .520/.466/.842 shooting splits, 3.0 dishes, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.5 steals a night.
Next up for the 20-9 Knicks is a Christmas Day matchup against the 17-14 Cleveland Cavaliers. New York and Cleveland were both largely expected to emerge as the Eastern Conference’s top two teams to beat in 2025-26, but only the Knicks — the No. 2 seed in the conference behind the Detroit Pistons — have lived up to that billing so far.
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