Workhorse Knicks embrace heavy usage, but at what cost?

Give the Atlanta Hawks credit. In their Tuesday night, 116-100 win over the New York Knicks, they played much better defense than their league-worst defensive rating suggested possible. The Knicks gave them a helping hand, however, with poor execution and shooting (38% from the field, 31% from deep). In the first half, New York committed just three turnovers, although, given the sloppiness and lethargy of their play, you might have expected thrice that many.

If the Knicks looked fatigued, it was justified. Due to injuries to key players, their shortened roster has been called upon to do more than usual. For example: since January 27, Josh Hart has averaged 40.1 minutes per game, and he has played 30 games of 30 minutes or more this season. His 45 minutes of effort proved essential to New York’s surprising road win in Cleveland on Sunday. Two nights later, appearing a tad bedraggled, he recorded a first-half goose egg before mustering up 14 post-intermission points.

Hart is known to be a workhorse. He has played 191 games over the last three seasons (Knicks, Trail Blazers) with an average of 32.3 MPG. But you can argue that in his NBA career, Josh has never before been suspected of so much, and at such a highly competitive rate.

Another surprising workhorse has been Precious Achiuwa, once considered a bonus piece in the OG Anunoby for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley swap. With starting power forward Julius Randle recovering from a dislocated shoulder, the 24-year-old has started 16 games and averaged 36.4 minutes per game. That included an eight-game stretch during which he averaged 41.8 MPG.

Before becoming a Knick, Precious had only exceeded 40 minutes in an NBA game once. He recorded a career-high 43:21 last month against Orlando.

Team leader Jalen Brunson is no stranger to big minutes, averaging 31.9, 35, and 35.4 over these last three seasons. But he’s on a helluva pace this year, with 53 games of over 30 minutes played already, compared to 58 the last and 55 the previous seasons. Perhaps what’s more interesting is how many games he has logged with fewer than 30 minutes this season: four.

Another former Villanova Wildcat whose tires have seen ample tread wear is shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo.

In his past 20 games, DiVincenzo has put in an especially heavy amount of work. For that span, DiVo averaged 35 minutes, a usage rate of 25%, and a game score of 14.7. During that span, his true shooting was 57%, and the Knicks went 12-8.

It’s been a wild season for the shooting guard who started his campaign on the bench before replacing Quentin Grimes on December 8. In a total of 61 games this season, his usage rate has been almost 22% and his game score was 10.8. He has played 30 minutes or more in a game 19 times.

Reviewing Donte’s 2022-23 stats with the Golden State Warriors, two streaks of heavy usage stand out: a 12-game stretch with 33.2 MPG and a 10-game run of 35.4 MPG. In the latter half of the previous season, after being traded from Milwaukee to the Kings, he played a 10-game stretch of 30.7 MPG. During that brief stint in Sacramento, he averaged 26.6 minutes per game and a usage rate of 19%.

In the 2020-21 season, Donte saw his heaviest regular action before joining the Knicks. He played 66 regular season games for the Bucks in that campaign and averaged 28.3 MPG over the back half (33 games), with a usage rate of 16.4% and a game score of 9.1. The previous season, sophomore Donte broke 30 game minutes once.

Suffice it to say, this current stretch has had the most concentrated usage of Donte DiVincenzo’s career. And he’s been great, no argument here. His player efficiency rating (16.5), win share (4.5), and value over replacement player (2.3) stats are the highest of his career. Not a bad return on a 4-yr/$50M contract. (Shrewd move yet again, Leon.)

Here’s Donte scoring his career-high of 38 points earlier this season:

It is fair to wonder if the extra grind is sustainable, however.

Recent injuries to OG Anunoby and Julius Randle cut almost 40 points off the production chart and wrecked New York’s floor spacing. Donte was called upon to score more and answered the bell admirably. Then injuries to Brunson (neck spasms, knee contusion) reduced the team to a very Donte-centric offense. That meant he chucked the rock more often; it also meant that the opponent knew he would be the lead option and made a concentrated effort to disrupt him.

A greater volume of field goal attempts is surely a more tiring assignment, especially when most are contested shots. Big surprise, his numbers have started to dip. In the last five games, Donte took 71 three-pointers and made 25. That’s 35% on a whopping 14.2 attempts. During his first 56 games, he shot 42% from deep on 7.4 attempts per game. His true shooting has taken a hit over the last five contests, too—53%, compared to 61% through his first 56 games. It makes sense that his numbers would slide with more defensive attention paid to him.

He could also be wiped out.

These bulldog Knicks are accustomed to playing with aches and bruises and, yes, fatigue. One darker worry is that heavy usage can lead to a more serious injury. The last time Donte played this much, he tore an ankle ligament and missed most of the playoffs during Milwaukee’s championship run.

Help is on the way for our weary heroes. Brunson will return soon, probably by Friday for the game against the Magic, in a contest with greater significance now that Orlando has caught the Knicks for a fourth-place tie in the Eastern Conference. OG Anunoby is projected to return from elbow surgery soon, possibly next week. And Julius Randle looks strong while working up sweats during pregame warmups. There’s no firm date for Julius to rejoin the club, but he clearly wants to be back in action for what we hoped would be a deep postseason run.

Night after night, the Knicks are playing their hearts out (ashamedly, the pun is intended). To throw another hackneyed phrase at you: they leave it all on the floor. Yet just as we marvel that they couldn’t play any tougher, or harder, we remember that the postseason is notoriously more grueling than the regular season. It is difficult to imagine these guys having a top gear beyond what already seems to be their top gear. We can only wait and hope that the starters return to reestablish balance soon, and that the guys currently carrying the heaviest burden will reserve a little extra fuel in their tanks for the playoffs.