Amongst the few surprising storyline surrounding the Knicks, of which there are many, Miles McBride's early season play was a big one. He not only struggled to produce as expected, but his playing time took a big hit over the first two weeks of the campaign.

Five games into the season, McBride was averaging just 6.4 ppg while shooting 35.7% from the field and playing an inexplicably low 17.6 mpg. While some of the stats looked ugly, McBride was still playing winning basketball a good amount of the time, but not seeing the minutes that usually come along with that.

However, turn the calendar to November, and McBride's situation has changed in a big way.

Miles McBride's hot shooting gives the Knicks more options—and a tougher rotation secision

In a classic chicken or egg situation, it's hard to say if his increase in playing time has come as a result of him catching fire from three or vise versa. But the Knicks surely don't care right now.

In the Knicks' last six games, McBride is averaging 9.2 ppg while shooting 51.3% from the field and a blistering 46.7% from three while playing 20 mpg. That's still less than the 26.3 mpg he averaged last season. And that's also less than the amount many Knicks fans would like to see him play, but given the current rotation competition, McBride hitting the 20-minute mark again speaks volumes about the present positive feelings about the reserve.

Mike Brown is stuck between a rock and a hard place. McBride has generally been better than Mikal Bridges, who has struggled mightily, but Brown will need Bridges to eventually figure it out if the Knicks want to repeat as champions. And while Josh Hart has very clear weaknesses, especially in the starting lineup, he's still an integral part of this team.

And then there's Landry Shamet, who enters Thursday with the highest plus-minus of the team and is repeating the amazing season he had last season as the team's unsung hero. If and when the fans want McBride to play more, it's almost always going to come at the cost of one of those three, and that's not always as easy of a decision to make when you're the one making them and not the one screaming from the couch.

That being said, this is all a great problem for the Knicks to have. Sure the Knicks' front office may have had an easier time digesting the decision to trade him had McBride continued to struggle with his shot. It certainly would have helped them sell the trade to the fanbase a bit more.

But with McBride's recent re-discovery of his stroke, the Knicks are back to having plenty of options at the guard position when it comes to who to start, who to play, and who to close with. And while this makes trading him sentimentally more difficult, it only increases his value further increasing the likelihood that the Knicks can swap him for a wing or center worthy of getting postseason minutes.

The better McBride plays, and the longer he does so, these decisions will only continue to get more and more difficult for the Knicks. Leon Rose and the aforementioned Brown will have their work cut out for them.

Still, the Knicks need McBride to be at his best. If they decide to keep him, he'll have to play an integral role in the Knicks' postseason run. And even if they decide to trade him before likely losing him for nothing in the offseason, his improved play should also improve the haul they'll get back.