After that Nix refused three veterans camp invitees on Thursday, Ian Begley of SNY.tv browsed the center James Wiseman as a lock to make the team’s regular season roster. However, this does not necessarily mean that the swingman Bruce Brownthe other veteran left fighting for a roster spot will be the odd man out.
There is “strong support” within the organization to keep Brown, according to Begley, who believes the front office will explore every possible avenue to make that happen.
While there is nothing technically preventing the Knicks from assigning Wiseman as the 14th man and Brown as the 15th man without making a corresponding roster change, it would cause the team’s salary to exceed the second apron threshold to open the season, which James Dolan said will not happen. So a trade would be necessary to lock in Wiseman and Brown, as well as a 2024 first-round pick Pakome Dadiet has long been seen as the most likely candidate to change the team.
While it’s certainly possible that Dudiet will be moved, Begley says he expects New York to explore additional trade scenarios — including dealing a defenseman Tyler Kolek – by Monday’s deadline to make regular season rosters. Moving either player would require the Knicks to attach at least one second-round pick.
As Bagley points out, there will be other teams around the league willing to make similar salary-cap deals, so the Knicks will have competition in the trade market, but they also have a glut of future second-round picks to entice potential trade partners.
We have more from across the Atlantic:
- Sixers security guard Anfernie Simons (hamstring) and the big man Adem Bono (feet) fully participated in Thursday’s practice but will not be available for Friday’s final preseason game, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic. The team hopes both players will be available when Philadelphia’s regular season begins Tuesday, Jones added.
- Star center Joel Embiid hasn’t appeared in more than 39 regular-season games over the last three years, but he’s at full strength entering this fall. Tyrese Maxey says it “changes everything” for Sixersaccording to ESPN’s Chris Rome. “Unless you’ve played with a big man like Joel – there aren’t many – it’s very difficult, very difficult to learn certain things,” Maxey said. “…So with him there, we can drill those things over and over again. It was something like two or three weeks we just drilled and drilled. It’s good.”
- NBA General Managers voted Celtics security guard Mike Conley – by a significant margin – an active player who will most likely become a head coach. On Wednesday against Charlotte, Conley got something of a trial run in that role as Jay King of The Athletic details. “(Coach “Celtics Joe Mazzula) came up to me before the game and said, “What would you think about the rotation tonight?” the veteran point guard said. “I said, ‘Sh–t, I’ll do anything.’ I told him I’d never done that before and it was cool for me to experience it.” Conley joked that he almost had to go back to the drawing board Derrick White picked up his second foul just 2:05 into the first quarter: “It kind of blew up the whole cheat sheet. I said, “Oh, no, now I have to make a replacement.”
- Speaking of White, Mark Medina of RG.org spoke with Marcus Mason Celtics the guard’s longtime coach, on what White has focused on in the offseason and why he expects the 32-year-old’s explosive numbers to resume in 2026-27.
