The New York Knicks 2023-24 NBA season has been up and down and a mixed bag so far. They currently have a 3-4 record and are 9th in the Eastern Conference.

Jalen Brunson has had some explosive games, which included a 45-point outing during the Knicks' 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament opener against the Milwaukee Bucks. Julius Randle is off to arguably the worst start of any player in the NBA in over 60 years and has been the Knicks' biggest disappointment so far. They've had some bad defeats, tight losses, and even encouraging wins, like the one in their most recent outing against the Los Angeles Clippers, where they spoiled the debut of James Harden.

New York's offense has been sour to start the season as the team is only 28th in the NBA in offensive rating. But the Knicks have hung their hat on the other side of the floor, as they currently boast the second-best defensive rating in the league.

While this season has been rather inconsistent for New York, one player has been a pleasant surprise so far. That man is RJ Barrett.

Knicks most pleasant surprise: RJ Barrett

RJ Barrett is undoubtedly in the midst of his best NBA season so far. Sure, it's only five games and there's a lot more basketball left to be played this season. But the New York Knicks guard has been playing with a ton of confidence on both sides of the floor.

On the year, Barrett is averaging 22.0 points on 47.5 percent field goal shooting and 44.0 percent three-point shooting with over two makes per game. All of those are career-highs for the Toronto, Ontario native.

The Canadian is playing with so much confidence after he helped lead his country to a Bronze Medal finish in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. That confidence, especially offensively, has clearly trickled into the season.

Improvement in shooting

Perhaps the most surprising part about Barrett's development offensively is his three-point shooting. He entered this 2023-24 NBA season as just a career 34.3 percent sniper from beyond the arc, with his best shooting season coming in his sophomore year, where he shot 40.1 percent from three.

Barrett has cashed in on his catch-and-shoot opportunities so far. Nearly all of his three-pointers have been assisted and he is connecting on an insane 52.4 percent of his catch-and-shoot triples this season.

The 23-year-old could very well cool off at some point. But if he is able to keep his three-point shooting above 40 percent, this will only open up his game even further as it has over his first five games of the season.

The advanced numbers don't lie as well. Barrett is shattering his career 51.7 percent true shooting percentage and currently has a true shooting percentage of 59.9 percent on the season.

His three-point shooting is not the only reason why he has become so efficient as a scorer. Barrett clearly worked on his shooting this summer and it is even showing on the freethrow line. The former Duke standout hasn't had a problem going to the line. He has averaged over five freethrow attempts per game over the last couple of seasons.

However, he hasn't been able to take advantage of those freebies in the past, being just a career 70.9 percent shooter from the foul line in his first four years in the league. This season, Barrett is shooting a career-best 85.2 percent from the line, while maintaining his attempts at over 5.4 freethrows per game.

Defensive growth: Two-way Barrett?

In addition, Barrett has also turned himself into a positive for the Knicks this season. Per Cleaning The Glass, Barrett has an efficiency differential of plus-7.2 when he is on the floor for New York. That is 10.4 points per 100 possessions better than when the lefty forward is on the bench.

Barrett's defense has also taken a leap this year. His defensive rating for the year is at 97.6, which is a stark improvement from his 116.5 defensive rating from a season ago.

Barrett is well aware that he needs to be a plus-defender in order to play for Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. And he is one of the main reasons why the Knicks have become a defensive juggernaut this season.

“I think you could see by the numbers that we're a really good defensive team,” Barrett said they spoiled James Harden's debut for the Los Angeles Clippers.  “It's hard to play for Thibs and not play defense. I think we're doing a solid job, we just got to continue working better on that and make sure that our offense is tight.”

If Barrett is able to keep growing as a legitimate two-way player for the Knicks, an All-Star nod in the not-so-distant future could very well be in the cards for the Maple Mamba.