Knicks to hold Media Day to start training camp on October 2

Last year’s media day, hosted by Monica McNutt, gave us our chance to finally see Jalen Brunson in a New York Knicks uniform and catch up with some fan favorites at the start of training camp.

This year’s “content day” will be held Monday, October 2, and not much has changed personnel-wise.

Aside from trading Obi Toppin for Donte DiVincenzo, the team hasn’t made many roster moves. Certainly, the former Villanova Wildcat will be asked how DDV feels about joining the Knicks (“Great!” I’m sure) and pairing up with former—championship-winning—college teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Ryan Arcidiacono (“Elated!” I’m sure).

Once past those pleasantries, an interesting line of questioning might be: Is DiVincenzo content to play shooting guard with the second unit, or will he challenge Quentin Grimes for the starting job?

At the last training camp, Brunson was the newbie on the roster. From there, he proceeded to have a career year in the regular season and marched the Knicks into the semifinals of the Playoffs. Not bad for being “the guy we got instead of Donovan Mitchell.” This offseason, Jalen got married and then led Team USA into the FIBA World Cup. The team fell short of a medal, but, hey, not a bad summer overall.

Thibodeau recently downplayed the wear and tear of the offseason competition on his players, but one has to wonder if Brunson won’t feel somewhat cooked sometime during the upcoming campaign. He’s played a full season with career-high minutes, plus postseason, plus the FIBA stuff, and is now back to the grindstone. Seems like a lot of basketball miles in a short period. Maybe a reporter should ask how Jalen will safeguard against burnout.

Evan Fournier was considered to be a top role player heading into the 2022-23 campaign, but this time around he is disgruntled and desperate for a trade after the roster reductions of Tom Thibodeau left him permanently benched. If I were at the South Carolina training camp, I’d be in a hurry to shove a mic in the Frenchman’s face. He should be good for a few spicy quotes.

RJ Barrett had a positive postseason with the Knicks and played well with Team Canada at the FIBA World Cup this summer. He still has much to prove in NYC, however, and some speculate that he could be on his way out. It could be fun to get his thoughts on the situation and his future in NYC, but don’t expect much to be revealed.

Julius Randle rode a bum ankle through the playoffs, and it showed. He had surgery to clean it up after the campaign had ended. An obvious question will be: Is the ankle completely healed? Another might be: Are you at all concerned that with Obi Toppin gone, you will play even more minutes per game?

Randle created a stir this offseason when he changed representation from CAA to WME Sports. Somebody might want to inquire into the reasoning…