The Nets had the chance to land Jaylen Brown before he eventually ended up with the Sixers, but Brooklyn never got serious about bringing the All-Star forward in.
According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, the Celtics reached out to the Nets on a possible Brown deal, and Brown was open to coming to Brooklyn. Even so, the Nets passed.
Reports had tied Michael Porter Jr., Day’Ron Sharpe and draft assets to the kind of package that could have been in play, but Brooklyn’s front office never moved forward. The concern, per Lewis, was that Brown might create distractions, with memories of Kyrie Irving’s tenure still fresh in the building.
Brown and Irving are close friends.
“They weren’t lowballing,” a source told Lewis. “They just shut it down altogether. They just said, ‘We’re not interested.’”
Brooklyn did have a setback on the floor Tuesday night, too. Egor Demin left the Nets’ overtime loss to Boston early with a right leg contusion. Before exiting, he logged 10 minutes, finishing with two points and two assists.
Across town, the Knicks will be without assistant coach Chris Jent for an undisclosed stretch because of personal reasons, according to the New York Post’s Jared Schwartz and Stefan Bondy. Jent serves as associate head coach and runs the offense under Mike Brown, and he has missed the last three games, including Tuesday’s win over the Pistons.
Assistant T.J. Saint has stepped into his spot on the front of the bench.
There was also a major organizational change involving the Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers. MSG Sports has officially split the two into separate publicly traded companies, The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov reports.
James Dolan will remain CEO and executive chairman of both. The Knicks and the G League’s Westchester Knicks now sit under MSG Knickerbockers Corp., while the Rangers, AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack and the MSG training facility are housed under MSG Rangers Corp.
Knicks shares are going for approximately $300 apiece.
In Other News...
Knicks May Have Pulled Off Another Quiet Draft-Night Win
The Knicks used the 30th pick on Sergio de Larrea, then quickly turned that selection into a different kind of asset by sending his rights to the Mavericks for two future second-round picks. It was the sort of maneuver that fits neatly with how New York has tried to work around its salary cap limitations, squeezing value wherever it can find it instead of simply standing pat on draft night.
De Larrea was already playing professionally in Spain, and soon after the draft he helped Valencia win the Liga ACB title, adding another layer to a player the Knicks never intended to keep. New York also knew Dallas had been linked to him and had the front office ties to make the deal work, which is why this looked less like a pass on a prospect and more like a calculated bet on information and timing. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Just Got Pulled Into A Wild Karl-Anthony Towns Trade Idea
The Knicks have been pulled into an early-season trade idea that already feels bigger than the standings around it. Miami opened with a 0-4 start after reshaping its roster in a blockbuster deal with Milwaukee for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis, and the rough beginning has only fueled chatter about how the new pieces fit with Bam Adebayo still anchoring the frontcourt.
What makes the speculation more interesting from New Yorks side is the path some are floating to get there: a swap centered on Adebayo and Tim Hardaway Jr. for Karl-Anthony Towns. Nothing has been confirmed by Miami, and the Heat could easily give the group more time to settle in, but the mere fact the Knicks are part of this kind of conversation says a lot about how quickly the league starts chasing the next big idea when a new roster stumbles out of the gate. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Already Have A Real Andre Drummond Debate On Their Hands
Andre Drummonds first few weeks as the Knicks backup center have already turned into a small but real rotation conversation. He opened the 2026-27 season with a double-double, then saw his minutes dip in the next games as Mike Brown adjusted the lineup, a familiar kind of early-season sorting-out process for a team still figuring out how it wants to use its depth. Even so, Brown has made clear Drummond remains in the backup mix, which matters for a bench frontcourt that needs a dependable presence when the starters sit.
Drummond gave the Knicks a reminder of why that role is worth monitoring in the win over Detroit, when he scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 14 minutes. It was a cleaner, more productive showing than some of his earlier outings, and it gave New York a useful glimpse of what he can offer when the minutes are there. The larger question now is whether that performance is the start of a steadier climb back into a bigger share of the center rotation. [Read more 🡒]