The New York Knicks have added another veteran name to their training camp mix, signing Bruce Brown Jr. to a training camp contract, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Wednesday.
Brown, who won an NBA title with the Denver Nuggets in 2023, will be in the mix for one of the final two roster spots as New York heads toward the 2026 season. The Knicks have been building out that competition in a big way already, also bringing in Jon Konchar, James Wiseman, Drew Eubanks and Ochai Agbaji on Exhibit 9 contracts. It’s the same kind of numbers game they used last offseason, stacking the camp roster to create a real battle for the final openings.
For the Portland Trail Blazers, that kind of veteran wing addition would have made a lot of sense.
Portland has taken a similar approach with its own frontcourt competition, giving Micah Potter a non-guaranteed deal and later adding the more defense-minded Jeremy Sochan on a non-guaranteed deal. More names could still come, but right now the group doesn’t exactly match the level of intrigue New York has assembled.
Sochan is a sensible low-risk swing, especially if a change of scenery helps him find his footing in Portland. But Brown looks like the sort of player the Blazers should have been chasing hard: versatile, dependable, and built for the end of the bench in the way every team wants. He fits the Swiss Army Knife mold that coaches love when they’re filling out a roster.
The need is obvious, too. Portland’s wing depth has been thinned out by an odd offseason that created congestion at both point guard and center, while leaving the perimeter group light.
It’s not clear whether the Blazers had real interest in Brown, and in fairness, the Knicks are a tough team to beat on the market. The chance to join a defending champion carries real weight, especially compared with trying to sell free agents on Rip City. That uphill climb has always been part of Portland’s reality, and it’s showing again this late in the offseason.
What Portland could have offered Brown was a more straightforward route to playing time. The Blazers lost forwards Jerami Grant, Kris Murray and Matisse Thybulle this offseason without clear replacements waiting in the wings. Potter or Sochan might end up filling some of that gap, but Portland still needs another perimeter piece, and Brown would have fit that ask perfectly.
Right now, the Blazers are leaning on a wing group that includes a floor-shrinking Sidy Cissoko and Vit Krejci, who struggled to find his shot after arriving from Atlanta at the trade deadline. With his championship background and all-around versatility, Brown looked like exactly the kind of player Portland should have brought into its camp competition.
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