Miles McBride knew this day would come. The Knicks had an idea, too. After all, they signed him to a contract extension before the debris settled on Immanuel Quickley’s locker.
The Knicks traded Quickley, RJ Barrett and a valuable second-round pick via Detroit to the Toronto Raptors in the Dec. 30 deal netting OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa.
Suddenly, New York needed a point guard to backup All-Star Jalen Brunson.
Suddenly, McBride’s number had been called.
Prior to the trade, McBride had logged just 84 total minutes and appeared sparingly in just 18 of the 31 games played..
And entering Monday’s matchup against the Detroit Pistons, the third-year guard has tallied 139 minutes over his last three games.
He is now filling in as a starter for a Knicks team short three key players due to injury. McBride played all 48 minutes of Saturday’s victory over the Brooklyn Nets. He has logged 44, 47 and 48 over his last three games.
The minutes workload may seem extreme, but for McBride, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. As the Knicks began to build separation from the Nets in the second half, McBride never once glanced at the bench for a sub.
Nor did head coach Tom Thibodeau give any thought to pulling a spry, hungry guard from the floor in one of his best performances of the season: 26 points — three shy of a career-high — six threes on 12 attempts; 9-of-16 shooting from the field altogether; plus zero turnovers over a 48-minute stretch.
Not bad for a player who’d been a rotation afterthought for the first third of the season
“Well, he’s well rested,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said with a smile after Saturday’s win, the Knicks’ fifth in their last six games. “The thing is there’s nothing that you don’t love about Deuce. From the moment we drafted him and even when he wasn’t playing, that tells you a lot because the way he worked — a guy’s work ethic is a big part of it, too: his drive. So he had that.”
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McBride is well-rested.
What was a punch line for Thibodeau after he let “Deuce” on the loose for a full game on Saturday quickly became a sentiment shared by McBride’s teammates in the locker room after the game.
Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and Josh Hart each ranked top-50 in total minutes played by the mid-February All-Star break, a jarring stat considering Randle’s last game prior to dislocating his shoulder came on Jan. 27.
Since Randle’s injury — which coincides with Anunoby’s last game played before leaving the rotation to undergo elbow surgery — Hart ranks second in total minutes, Donte DiVIncenzo ranks 17th and Precious Achiuwa sits at No. 40.
Yet over their last three games, no player in all of basketball has logged more minutes than McBride, who gleefully accepts the challenge as a badge of honor.
“It means he has a lot of energy. He didn’t play earlier this year. He’s got a lot of energy,” Hart said after the game. “He didn’t play the first what [30 games]? He’s probably like at game 40 right now. He’s good. He got a lot of energy.”
The trust McBride earned from Thibodeau must be noted, as well. After all, Achiuwa ranked top-40 in minutes played after both Randle and Anunoby left the rotation because Thibodeau inserted the versatile forward into the starting lineup the first time around.
Thibodeau continues to have confidence in Achiuwa, specifically because he can guard multiple positions and switch defensively.
The matchups, however, led this coach to make a different decision the second go-round.
When Anunoby left the rotation after his surgically-repaired right elbow flared up after the Sacramento Kings game, Thibodeau gave McBride the start.
His reasoning? McBride could hound Stephen Curry the full length of the floor in a matchup against the Golden State Warriors, plus Cam Thomas is liable to catch fire for the Nets at any moment.
Not to mention the three-point shooting: McBride has made six threes in two of his last three games. He is shooting 45.6 percent from three in the month of March and 41.6 percent from deep on the season.
“I think just matchup-wise, I’m able to guard some of the better guards and be disruptive,” McBride explained after helping hold Thomas to 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field. “So offensively, we keep space a lot more. Those were kind of the things [that got me the start over Achiuwa].”
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Yet for all of McBride’s recent accomplishments, the most impressive part to his teammates is that a player who had been out of the rotation for so long remained patient, ready to seize his moment should the opportunity present itself.
The opportunities don’t always come — especially for third-string players sitting behind two stars on the depth chart.
Minutes were scarce earlier in the season when Brunson and Quickley played the lion’s share of the back court minutes.
And when out of the rotation with no opportunity in sight, many players decide to check out, to take their foot off the gas when no one is looking.
“Sometimes it’s tough [when you’re not playing],” Hart said. “Out of the rotation, sometimes your mind drifts and it’s tough to have conditioning and be focused. That’s something he didn’t do. He just kept coming in and working hard and being hungry. Then, when he got his time, he did excel. I think that shows the preparation he put in before his number was called.”
With McBride, settling was never an option. His teammates quickly took note.
It’s why DiVincenzo isn’t surprised the third-year guard has taken full advantage of the opportunity to play big minutes in The Big Apple.
“Not surprised. Obviously, early in the year he wasn’t playing much, but you have to credit him,” he said. “Most guys, when they’re not playing much or not playing at all, they kind of give in to — ‘OK, I’m not going to work. I’m not going to do extra workouts, do this, do that.’ He does everything and he’s ready to go. So when his number is called, that’s what happened. He’s ready to go.”
“That’s how the NBA kinda is,” added starting center Isaiah Hartenstein. “It can change from one day to another. You can go from not playing to playing 44, 48 minutes. Just proud of him that he’s stayed ready, and the way he’s been playing has been great for us. It’s not just like he’s coming in and kind of filling in minutes. He’s helping us win right now and it’s been great to see.”
McBride said he’s not cut from the quitter’s cloth. His parents instilled mental toughness in him when he was young.
“It started when I was a child, how I was raised,” he explained. “My parents were always telling me to be mentally strong: ‘You’re a leader out there. People are looking to you. So if you crack, then it goes in line.’ So I just want to be as strong as I can and continue to do what I do.”
While he was out of the rotation, he leaned on his faith.
“Yeah [earlier in the season] definitely had some downs,” he said. “When you’re not playing and you want to do anything to help the team win, it’s tough. But you just stay true, look to the Lord and do whatever I can to keep myself ready.”
McBride kept the faith, and now Thibodeau has faith in his young guard.
Without it, he wouldn’t entrust a third-year player with big minutes on a team headed to the playoffs.
McBride has become a knockdown shooter: from 25 percent as a rookie to 30 percent in Year 2, now above 40 percent among the league’s elite in Year 3.
And while he’s always been an excellent defender, it’s a combination of toughness and floor-spacing earning McBride a big role on the Knicks — not to mention fresh legs for a depleted team in need of a break.
“He’s strong, he’s got great feet, he’s got great anticipation. He doesn’t quit on a play. So the defense has been there from day one,” Thibodeau said. “And then I think the offense was always pretty good. He’s always been a scorer, but he’s gotten to the point where he is just a knockdown shooter now. You cannot leave him open, and the numbers bear it out, whether it’s practice or games.
“And so it’s a credit to him. He’s in phenomenal shape. He stays in phenomenal shape. He takes care of himself. So I think he has the ability to [play a full 48 minutes].”
