Training camp is closing in, and Tyler Nickel’s future with the Knicks still hasn’t been settled. New York has preseason games a month away, yet the rookie remains unsigned, leaving one of the team’s biggest roster questions hanging over the final stretch before camp.
The central issue is simple enough: will Nickel get a standard deal and join the main roster, or will he end up occupying one of the Knicks’ three open two-way spots? So far, New York has not used any of those two-way openings, even though they can be useful for adding depth, especially for a team trying to manage every dollar carefully.
There is at least some precedent for the Knicks taking their time. Last September, they had a similar set of end-of-roster questions before camp, and Leon Rose waited until roughly a week out to make his move.
On Sep. 15, he signed tryout players Alex Len, Malcolm Brogdon, and Landry Shamet. The following day, Sep. 16, he completed the two-way group with Kevin McCullar Jr., Trey Jemison III, and Tosan Evbuomwan.
That all came just ahead of training camp, which opened on Sep. 24 for New York last season.
That timeline offers a possible clue for this year. If Rose follows the same rhythm, activity could pick up about eight days before camp, and the Knicks’ training camp opens on Sep. 29 this time around. If that pattern holds, an answer on Nickel could arrive in less than three weeks.
The delay may feel odd on the surface, but the Knicks’ financial situation helps explain it. James Dolan’s mandate to stay under the second apron has made every roster decision more complicated, and the front office has to be precise about where it spends its limited resources.
Signing Nickel to the main roster would come with a real cost. It would take away the flexibility to add a third center right now, which would put more pressure on Karl-Anthony Towns to open the season after helping lead a title run.
That matters because more big men are becoming available as teams sort out their own rosters. New York has a clear reason to wait and see before locking itself into a move it may not need yet. The tradeoff is that Nickel is left in limbo, but as a late second-round pick, he does not have much leverage in the process.
So the situation remains unresolved for now, and it has become more complicated than the Knicks likely expected. Between the financial restrictions and the roster math, Rose is trying to squeeze value out of the few remaining contracts he can still hand out. That’s the reality of operating under the second apron, and for the Knicks, the longer they can delay the decision, the more options they may preserve.
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Brunson had offseason surgery and is still waiting to be cleared for basketball activities as training camps near, which leaves a fresh layer of uncertainty around a player who powered New Yorks climb when it mattered most. Peyton Watson recently talked about how hard it is to navigate the playoffs while hurt, noting his own hamstring strain and how injuries can shape a series, and Brunsons case is another reminder of just how far title runs can be pushed by guys willing to play through it. [Read more 🡒]