NBA FINALS: KNICKS VS. SPURS

June 2, 2026

Landry Shamet

New York Knicks

Media Day

Q. Landry, what is it like to actually be here, day before Game 1, at this stage professionally for you?

LANDRY SHAMET: Yeah, it's special. Obviously, it's been a long, longer break, another long break we've had leading up. With that comes some idle mind and think about things, emotions about playing in the game. Not trying to spend too much time reflecting, get into all that. Waiting and pushing that off until we're done to fully breathe everything in.

The drive over, yeah, a lot of emotions. It's pretty cool. Pretty surreal to be playing in the NBA Finals. Really grateful, really excited. Tired of waiting. Ready for tomorrow so we can just get this thing started.

But really excited and grateful to be here.

Q. Landry, one of the things coming into this season with Mike Brown was he had to develop the bench, make sure the starters weren't run ragged. He mentioned once you came back in early April, that was when things turned around for the team. What is it like when a coach is coming in and he's trying to give you guys extended roles when the starters are normally playing the heavy minutes? Is it like a competitive tension trying to figure things out? Did you sense that at all?

LANDRY SHAMET: Truthfully with this team -- I've said it a number of times -- we've got a group that truly roots for each other, wants each other to succeed. It's special when you have a locker room where those ulterior motives bleed into your locker room.

Look at our bench, different guys throughout the Playoffs that have been inserted, have had to step up, play bigger roles in certain situations. There's a lot of reasons on paper where it would look like you could get a little bitter about so-and-so is taking so-and-so's minutes, whatever the case may be. Truthfully, this team, we have a special group where we all root for each other, know that job and role could look different for anybody any night. That could be a different guy that that's asked to be.

I think you have a healthy amount of competitiveness. Obviously, all of us, we're here for a reason, we want to compete and contribute. At the end of the day, wins speak much louder than any of that other stuff. That's what we all ultimately want.

You see that. We all support each other. That's really cool and really unique to be a part of with this team, yeah.

Q. When you consider your journey, how much of all that you've been through and done made you ready for the stage you're on?

LANDRY SHAMET: Yeah, I'm a believer that everything you go through, everything might seem small or big, prepares you for where you're ultimately headed in one way or another, even if it doesn't line up perfectly, whatever the case may be.

Really grateful, like I said, for all the highs and lows I've been through personally. Yeah, I mean, all I know right now is that I'm here. Like I said, I'm trying not to get too reflective, open up that can of worms of looking back on everything, quite yet. There's four more wins between me and doing that, that I'm more worried about.

One win at a time really. That's where I'm at. Definitely think that everything you go through, everything you live through, good and bad, prepares you for where you're headed.

Q. There's a big guy on the other team getting a lot of attention right now. Big guy on your team, in terms of Karl, how instrumental has he been in terms of you being here? What kind of changes did you see in this season?

LANDRY SHAMET: Yeah, I mean, KAT is one of the most talented basketball players I've ever been fortunate to be teammates with.

I think he's lived through a number of different seasons within the season this year, as well, where we've asked him to do some different things. It's kind of a theme with our whole team. Everybody's kind of had to evolve and adapt and do something a little bit different than they've always been asked to.

KAT kind of coming into that role, when we got into the Playoffs, he's been a fantastic facilitator, playmaker at the top of the floor for us. Been really aggressive offensively, as well. Been asked to defend at a high level, and he's done that.

He does everything. There's not a lot that he can't do. We rely on him every night in a lot of different areas. He's super important to us. Obviously is a big piece to our success.

Q. When you look at the opponent, they are a team that also uses their bench, you think of the two bench units, what comes to mind in terms of things you have to be prepared for?

LANDRY SHAMET: Yeah, they're obviously a very talented group, a deep group. A lot of the same things I'm saying, can rely on a different guy every night off the bench to be a spark. We have to be ready for that, take our individual matchups seriously.

Understanding personnel, knowing a multitude of guys, not just honing in on one matchup, I think it's going to be important obviously at this stage. We'll key in on that and do our best to take away what strengths that we can.