The Knicks are staring at a very familiar kind of roster debate: do they take the steadier option at third-string center, or do they bet on upside?
With the regular season less than two weeks away, New York is sorting through Drew Eubanks, James Wiseman and Tony Bradley for that spot behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond. And because Towns has dealt with frequent foul trouble and also needs to be managed across the season, while Drummond is older and not necessarily built for a heavy load, this won’t be some throwaway job.
That’s why the question matters. The safe pick is one thing. The better long view is another.
The New York Post’s Stefan Bondy previously reported that Wiseman, the 2020 second overall pick, was the favorite. SNY’s Ian Begley then labeled Eubanks the “safer” option, pointing to the more dependable production he’s brought over the course of his career. But if the Knicks are thinking about what makes the most sense in their current spot - and with financial limitations looming - Wiseman’s appeal is obvious.
This is the kind of player teams keep circling back to: the former high pick who never quite landed, but still carries enough physical tools to make you wonder. NBA history is full of these “second draft” swings, and Wiseman fits squarely into that lane now.
The case for him starts with the simplest fact of all: he still hasn’t played much NBA basketball. Across five seasons, Wiseman has appeared in just 152 games, which works out to less than two full regular seasons.
His path has been rocky from the start. Golden State drafted him in 2020 during the “two timelines” era, but he missed his second season because of a knee injury and was moved out quickly when he didn’t fit the Warriors’ read-and-react offense.
He then spent two seasons in Detroit, playing in 87 games without making much of a dent, before landing in Indiana in 2024 and tearing his Achilles on opening night of the 2024-25 season. Since then, he’s played only four games.
Even with all that, there’s a case that Wiseman still hasn’t really had a fair shot at steady development. Golden State was a brutal place for a young center trying to find his footing.
Detroit was in the middle of a losing stretch, winning 31 games. Indiana barely got a look at him before injury wiped out the opportunity.
Compared with that, the Knicks might be offering the most stable setting he’s had yet, with Towns and Drummond in place to keep the pressure down.
And if you strip away the baggage, the physical profile is still intriguing. Wiseman is 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds, and he entered camp in strong shape. He showed off some of that promise in the Knicks’ first preseason game, finishing an alley-oop and adding a put-back after an offensive rebound.
The offensive flashes have always been there. In his short run with Golden State, Wiseman averaged 19 points per 36 minutes. In Detroit, there were nights where the scoring touch and overall skill package stood out, including a game where he put up 20 points and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.
The problems are just as real. Wiseman still hasn’t shown much as a passer, and his defense has not matched the physical gifts. That gap between tools and production is exactly why he’s still available to the Knicks now.
The good news for New York is that the role wouldn’t need to be complicated. Set hard screens.
Run dribble hand-offs. Roll with force.
Finish through contact. Stay active and play big on defense.
That’s the assignment. It’s not about asking him to be the player he was supposed to become at No. 2 overall.
It’s about narrowing the job to something manageable.
That approach has worked before. Ariel Hukporti filled a useful third-string role in previous seasons by keeping things simple and eating minutes when needed. Wiseman could operate the same way if the Knicks keep the task clean and direct.
There’s also a practical reason to lean into him. Wiseman is only 25, compared with Eubanks at 29.
Drummond is on a one-year deal. The Knicks didn’t draft a center this year, they don’t have first-round picks in two of the next three years, and future free agency flexibility gets tighter if this core stays together.
A cheap backup center with some growth potential starts to look a lot more valuable in that kind of setup.
So yes, the risk is there. It always is with this sort of player.
Plenty of second-chance prospects never turn into much. But some do become useful rotation pieces, and Marvin Bagley III is one example of a former top pick carving out life as a backup center.
That’s the lane Wiseman is trying to get into. For the Knicks, that kind of gamble might be the smartest one on the board.
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Jalen Brunson tried to steady the moment by emphasizing that everyone in the room understands the job in front of them and will stay professional no matter where contract discussions stand. For a team trying to build on its expectations, the timing is delicate, but Brunsons message was clear enough: the Knicks plan to keep the focus on basketball first, even with a couple of important decisions still waiting in the background. [Read more 🡒]