The Knicks had a path to add Julian Reese, and for a while it looked like one of those tidy, sensible roster fits. A promising young big.
Three two-way openings. A chance to develop a player who had flashed real upside late last season.
Instead, Reese is heading to New Orleans on a two-way deal, and New York is left to sort through what it passed up.
The Pelicans are signing Reese to a two-way contract, according to agents Yann Balikouzou and Kevin Bradbury of @LIFTSPORTSMNGMT, as reported by @hoopshype. Reese put up 11.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and shot 52.9% from the field in 13 games for the Wizards last season.
At first glance, it’s easy to see why Knicks fans would wonder how this one got away. Reese gave the Wizards some attention-grabbing performances to close out the 2025-26 campaign, including an 18-point, 20-rebound game. But those numbers came on a tanking team that won just one of the 13 games he played in, and that matters when a team is trying to project how a player will look in a far different setting.
Impressing in that environment is still a positive. It just doesn’t guarantee the same impact when the level of competition and the pressure rise, which is exactly what New York will be dealing with as defending champs.
There’s also the fit issue. Reese is listed at 6-foot-9, but he plays bigger than that.
The Knicks have already shown where they lean at center, with Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson, then the addition of the similarly large Andre Drummond after Robinson. That suggests a preference for size in the middle, and Reese doesn’t quite fit the mold the same way some of their other options do.
That becomes even clearer when looking at the big men Leon Rose has already brought in for training camp: seven-foot Liam Robbins, 6-foot-11 James Wiseman and 6-foot-10 Drew Eubanks. Eubanks is the closest stylistic comparison to Reese by size, but he brings eight years of being a serviceable NBA big, which removes a lot of the uncertainty that still surrounds Reese after only 13 games.
Robbins may be the more important name here. He’s already familiar to the organization after playing for the Knicks in Summer League, and he turned in a strong pair of games that left some hope this could grow into something more with time. He also sounds like someone comfortable with whatever role comes his way.
“I’m someone who can come in, give good energy, play D and play The Knick Way…championship effort”
That kind of attitude matters in a two-way spot, especially for a team that may not want a player demanding a path to major minutes right away.
That’s where Reese complicates the picture. He’s coming off a stretch that probably raised his own expectations, and it makes sense that he’d want a bigger opportunity than a quiet two-way arrangement. In New York, the minutes at center would be hard to come by with Towns and Drummond already in place, even if the spotlight would be bright.
New Orleans offers a different lane. The Pelicans are in flux, and that gives Reese a better shot at working his way into a real rotation role, or more, than he likely would have had with the Knicks. That alone could make the Pelicans the more attractive landing spot, even if New York had interest.
There’s also the bigger roster calculation. Reese looks like the kind of two-way player who could force a promotion to the main roster during the season, and that may not have lined up with Rose’s desire to keep flexibility intact. The Knicks have to manage possible upgrades and stay under the second apron, and adding a player who might need to be converted later can tighten that margin quickly.
So yes, New York may have missed out on a useful young big. But this may also be another case of the Knicks choosing long-term roster maneuvering over a short-term talent grab.
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