Landry Shamet's strong play with Knicks has taken him from bench role to starter
Knicks' Landry Shamet looks on during the third quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 4, 2026. Credit: Getty Images/Caleb Bowlin
When Mike Brown stopped a practice in training camp to get the team back on track, he let them know that the starters have their role and nothing else is assured. But as the season has worn on he has corrected that disclaimer about the starters to include Landry Shamet, too.
But Shamet has been called on to not just be the guy who is regarded almost like a starter, but to serve as a starter for a third straight game Tuesday night as the Knicks hosted the Milwaukee Bucks, with Josh Hart sidelined once again. And while Hart is a valuable piece of what the Knicks are, it’s not a coincidence that the Knicks didn’t miss a beat, winning those first two starts by Shamet.
Shamet worked to find his place in New York, becoming a key bench piece over his first two seasons in New York, but now, in his ninth NBA season, he has learned to be himself, whatever the role he is called upon to fill.
“I try to keep things as consistent as possible,” he said. “In the past in my career, if it was a spot start or a stretch of them, I think I made the mistake of trying to change too much. Or think I had to change a lot. Or do something differently. Or be something different. Just because I’m starting the reality is it’s the same basketball game. You can create different reasons as to why it’s different. But for me, and I think the whole goal for anybody, is setting yourself up for success and for me that just looks like keeping things as standard and concise as possible.”
Shamet didn’t start at all in his first season in New York and then last season he got the assignment for 12 games, and off the bench he delivered an epic performance in the Eastern Conference finals when he set a playoff record by converting 11 of 12 shots beyond the arc.
He is averaging 25.3 minutes per game through the Knicks first nine games, and beyond the two starts, he has been the main contributor off the bench, picking up the slack while Mikal Bridges has seen his minutes cut with early season struggles.
“Like we've always said, with this team, that's the kind of special benchmark of our group is it could, that could change from night to night. from person to person,” Shamet said. “There might be something required of me differently, tonight versus tomorrow night, might be making shots, might be guarding this guy. It might be being a great teammate on the bench and picking up somebody who's struggling, or, whatever the case may be, all these roles are constantly evolving and rotating. And it's all of our jobs collectively to just fill the voids that need filling when needed.”
Brown singled him out before Tuesday's game as the team’s best in defending the ball in a pick-and-roll situation — no small honor on a team with OG Anunoby and Bridges. But he’s been able to fill a different role on different night, much like a lot of the players off the bench. Deuce McBride has been a dangerous two-way player, Jordan Clarkson and Andre Drummond have been veterans excelling in their roles, and Jose Alvarado and Tyler Kolek have traded opportunities as the backup point guard. What has been noticeable is that there has been no issue on nights when one emerges and another doesn’t get the opportunity.
“The game will dictate it,” Brown said. “I go in with a minutes sheet. I don’t know if we’ve followed the minutes sheet once so far this year or let alone even last year. It’s just a cheat sheet of different lineups that you think you can run at the right time based off who’s out there to defend, who’s out there handling the ball, who’s out there setting screens and all that other stuff. We let the flow of the game dictate what’s gonna happen.”
"That’s just kind of the makeup of our group and that’s special,” Shamet said. “Typically, you go to a lot of NBA locker rooms, there’s some ulterior motives and personal agendas. Which is part of why we’re all here, is some ego, of course. Everybody is a good player at this level and is striving to get to something or be somewhere. But very rarely does that take a backseat to just truly buying into one another, wanting the best. Because ultimately, good things come from that, for everyone.
"It’s special, it’s really special. It’s something I don’t take for granted, being in an environment like that, to come to work in every day, that makes doing your job a lot easier, knowing you don’t have to deal with that. It’s special and something I love about here."
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
