While Knicks fans celebrated Josh Hart’s return to the lineup in Portland on Sunday night to the sound of victory trumpets, it seems as though a certain recent staple of the rotation was drowned out in the noise.
Tyler Kolek picked up his fifth DNP of the season last night, the first in two months, as the Knicks snuck past the Trail Blazers on their home court for a much-needed 123-114 victory.
One year ago, under a different coaching regime, this would have been no eyebrow raiser. Tyler Kolek, a then-rookie, getting minutes on a team led by Tom Thibodeau?
Fat chance. Not without being some sort of defensive savant or having dirt on the coach, the latter of which perhaps being the easier for a generously listed 6-foot-2 guard such as Kolek.
Mike Brown, though, has already proven in many ways to be the antithesis of what Thibs was as the head honcho in New York. It was the main allure that drew the Knicks to him, after all.
New era
His teams play fast.
His teams play together offensively.
His teams, on a player-to-player basis, play more.
Last season, Thibodeau used his bench unit, that is, anybody who wasn’t a mainstay in his near ironclad starting five, for a total of 6,424 minutes over an 82-game span.
This season, Brown has used his bench unit for a total of 3,739 minutes over a 39-game span so far. More than half the usage (58%) of last year, in less than half the games (48%).
Kolek, now a sophomore guard, has found himself one of the main beneficiaries of the coaching overhaul. Before the midway point of the season, he sits just seven games shy of eclipsing last year’s benchmark and has already nearly doubled his total minutes played.
Brown has granted the neophyte something that eludes most young non-lottery picks on NBA contenders: an opportunity. Part of that has been his earning the newfound trust of a coach who wasn’t previously there to witness his abilities firsthand.
With it has come an increase in Kolek’s trust in his own abilities, and thus, his on-court production. The same confidence that made him the smack-talking, side-smirking 2023 Big East Player of the Year back at Marquette has started to shine through the cracks.
By the numbers
From the last season to now, he’s made statistical leaps nearly across the board:
| Statistic | 2024-2025 Season | 2025-2026 Season |
| GP | 34 | 41 |
| MPG | 7.2 | 13.4 |
| FG% | 32.9% | 44% |
| FGA | 2.0 | 4.7 |
| 3P% | 29.8% | 33.3% |
| 3PA | 1.1 | 2.0 |
| PPG | 2.0 | 5.1 |
| APG | 1.7 | 2.8 |
| RPG | 0.7 | 1.9 |
The jump might seem marginal on paper, but anybody who’s watched him from last season to now can inform a naysayer that I’m not grasping at straws here. Kolek is a true-blue gamer, proving such in the two biggest games of New York’s season to date.
His 14 points, five rebounds, and five assists in just his second-ever NBA appearance of 20+ minutes were essential in the Knicks’ toppling of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2025 NBA Cup Final.
And who could forget where they were when Tyler Kolek saved Christmas?
The Kold Hard Truth
Full transparency, Kolek’s extended leash isn’t just the story of a scrappy underdog winning over the heart of his coach and forcing his way into the rotation. There’s a fair amount of happenstance to the equation.
His uptick in playing time directly coincided with the injury of his teammate, Landry Shamet, who has been kept sidelined with a right shoulder injury since Nov. 22. Before then, Kolek had racked up four DNPs in five games and was seeing sporadic minutes in the games he did play.
Fellow reserve guard Deuce McBride also sprained his ankle in an early December matchup against the Orlando Magic, keeping him out for eight games and forcing Kolek even further up the depth chart.
Josh Hart then fell victim to the very same injury as McBride, spraining his ankle against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 25 and leaving the game after logging just 26 minutes. In a way, this injury had the most direct butterfly effect on Kolek, with him most likely never even getting the opportunity in his now infamous Christmas Day performance without it.
Now injuries are healing, and minutes are thinning. McBride made his return to the lineup on Dec. 29, a game where Kolek saw just 12 minutes of floor time. On Sunday, Hart’s triumphant return came at the expense of Kolek’s minutes altogether, collecting his first DNP since Nov. 19.
With Landry Shamet’s return from injury hopefully just around the bend, there simply isn’t enough wealth to spread in terms of minutes. New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown will continue to face some tough choices regarding the rotation.
