The Knicks’ search for help at center may have just gotten a little more interesting.
New York has spent August keeping its powder dry, apparently unwilling to hand out a deal just to fill space. Leon Rose’s approach has been to wait for the market to loosen up, and that patience has already put Hunter Dickinson on the board as a possibility. Now Julian Reese is officially in the mix too.
Reese became available after being waived Aug. 28 and going unclaimed, which puts a young big man on the market at a time when the Knicks still have a clear need inside. With preseason closing in fast, that kind of opening could finally push New York toward another signing.
The Knicks’ hesitation all month makes sense on paper. They haven’t wanted to lock into a veteran simply because one is sitting there, and that helps explain why they watched Nick Richards linger in free agency for nearly two months without making a move. The same logic applies to leaving Kelly Olynyk and Mason Plumlee untouched as well.
Reese is a different type of option. He’s 23, made his NBA debut in March 2026, and showed some real pop with Washington to finish last season.
Over 13 games for the Wizards, he averaged 11.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. He also put himself into some rare company, with a 20-rebound game in the first five games of his career - a group that includes Shaq, Tim Duncan and Julian Reese.
That kind of profile lines up with the sort of big men New York has been tied to this summer, including Moussa Diabate, Mousse Cissé, Yves Missi and Karlo Matković. It’s youth, energy and rebound production, not a veteran placeholder.
Of course, there are reasons Reese is still on the market. He’s listed at 6-foot-9, and his numbers came on a Washington team that won only one of his 13 appearances. No team claimed him off waivers, which says plenty about how the league views him right now.
Still, the Knicks are in a position where they can move before someone else does. They remain one of the few teams with a center opening, and they have room on the main roster and on two-way deals. Reese should come cheap, too, which makes the whole thing pretty straightforward.
If New York waits too long, another club could lose a reserve to injury and suddenly have more urgency - and more playing time - to offer him. That would make the Knicks’ pitch harder, especially if all they can offer is a third-string role.
The risk is small. Reese likely isn’t commanding more than a two-way contract or a non-guaranteed deal.
But the upside is obvious enough: a young, active rebounder who could deepen the frontcourt without blocking other moves. If he arrives on a two-way, New York can still keep working around him.
There’s also the timing angle. Signing him now would give Reese a clean runway into training camp after being waived, and it could help him settle into the role New York needs behind Andre Drummond.
And because he’s still so early in his career, the Knicks would also be giving themselves a shot at something more than a stopgap. If it clicks, Reese could grow into a longer-term piece in New York. That alone makes him worth prioritizing before opening night gets any closer.
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