The 2024-25 NBA season is officially underway and former West Virginia Mountaineer Miles “Deuce” McBride is off to an impressive start despite the New York Knicks' 132-109 loss to the Boston Celtics.

McBride tied Jalen Brunson for the team lead with 22 points and was extremely efficient shooting the ball 8/10 from the field while stopping 4/5 shots from downtown in 28 minutes of play.

“He’s a great worker,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said in his postgame press conference. “He's getting better and better and can shoot the ball in a lot of different ways.” He can dribble very well, catch and shoot very well. He continues to improve.”

McBride began to gain more and more playing time as the season progressed last year and took full advantage of every opportunity to become a key player for the Knicks during the playoffs. During the offseason, the Knicks made several roster moves, including trading Donte DiVincenzo, which gave the former Mountaineer even more minutes. Now he's New York's number one guy on the bench.

“Definitely just try to play my style. “Do what I can to make plays and help the team win,” McBride said of his first game of the season. “Coming off the bench gives you the upper hand. “You can see how the game is going, you can see what the game is telling you to do and just use that to your advantage.”

McBride and the Knicks will be back in action Friday night in their home opener against the Indiana Pacers. You can also watch this game on TV as it is the NBA Game of the Night presented by ESPN.

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