With training camp less than two weeks away, Leon Rose finally got moving after what felt like an 11-week pause, and one of the Knicks’ latest additions was wing Bruce Brown. On paper, it’s the kind of low-risk swing teams love to make this time of year. In practice, it may not lead to Brown still being in orange and blue when opening night arrives.
Brown gives New York a useful player right away. Across eight NBA seasons, he has put up 8.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He can defend several spots, put the ball on the floor, finish as a cutter and slasher, and bring the kind of skills that don’t show up in a workout.
Still, signing Brown did not lock anything in. Instead, Rose set up a competition at the practice facility in Tarrytown and through the preseason, and roster math is making the whole situation messy.
The Knicks have two open main roster spots, but unless they make a trade, they can only keep one player while staying below the second apron. That leaves Brown, John Konchar, Ochai Agbaji, Drew Eubanks and James Wiseman - all on non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deals - fighting for limited space.
There’s already a sense that New York may end up making a deal so it can keep one wing and one big. But there’s no deadline forcing the issue, and the likeliest path is to let camp and preseason sort things out first.
Brown is also dealing with some overlap on the roster. His best traits line up with Josh Hart’s, and so do some of the rough edges.
The Knicks already have a crowded wing group, which means they don’t have to keep Brown or any of the other tryout guards and forwards. Brown, specifically, will need to beat out Konchar or Agbaji just to have a real shot at landing a main roster spot.
That doesn’t make him a bad fit. Far from it.
Like Hart, the 6-foot-4 Brown is the kind of winning player every team wants around. But New York would need him to do enough in a short window to force a bigger roster move - one that would let the Knicks keep him and a third center.
That’s a lot to ask from someone who sat on the open market all offseason.
The Knicks’ preference for veteran experience makes sense. Teams trying to win now tend to trust battle-tested players, especially with the grind of an 82-game season waiting after a run that went into June.
Brown also has a past connection with New York. He’s a CAA client, and the Knicks have shown interest in him before.
The feeling seemed mutual, too. While he was with the Raptors, he was openly interested in ending up in New York.
"I love New York," Brown, who spent two years with Brooklyn, told Jared Schwartz of the NY Post back in January of 2024. "I hated New York before I lived here, but as soon as I moved here, I loved it.
Anytime you want to do something you can go do it. Great restaurants, great city, I love being back”
After winning a title with the Nuggets in 2023, Brown went back to Denver last summer on a veteran’s minimum deal and played all 82 games. He averaged 7.9 points and shot 38.5% from three, his best long-range season since 2022, even if his scoring average was his lowest since his rookie year.
Because of apron restrictions and the league-wide lack of cap space, Brown and other established players like Nick Richards, Gabe Vincent and Cam Thomas didn’t draw much action on the open market. That gave the Knicks a chance to wait, then bring in a still-useful rotation player without much downside.
New York has made a habit of using camp and preseason to sort out these kinds of battles, and it worked with Landry Shamet last year. The Knicks are clearly betting they can find another useful piece the same way. Brown could be that guy, but he’ll have to earn it.
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For Nickel, that means the path to a real opening in New York may start with patience rather than an immediate standard deal. The team can still keep him in the pipeline while preserving flexibility elsewhere, which is useful business for the Knicks but a reminder that promising young players often have to wait their turn. Until the roster picture clears, Nickel is more a development piece than a finished part of the rotation puzzle. [Read more 🡒]