Knicks Place Bruce Brown On Waivers

One of five veterans in camp with the Knicks on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract, Brown survived the first round of cuts on Thursday, when the club waived Drew Eubanks, Tony Bradley, and Ochai Agbaji. However, center James Wiseman was considered the favorite to claim the 14th roster spot, with New York carrying 13 players on guaranteed contracts.

Technically, the Knicks had the roster space to retain both Wiseman and Brown to open the regular season, but doing so would’ve pushed their salary into second-apron territory, which team owner James Dolan has adamantly opposed. As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), the Exhibit 9 language in Brown’s contract protecting the team in the event of a preseason injury would have been voided once the regular season tipped off.

While Brown has plenty of fans within the Knicks organization and the front office reportedly looked into possible trades involving Pacome Dadiet or Tyler Kolek to create room for him under the second apron, they apparently had no luck finding a deal they liked.

A versatile 6’4″ guard who can defend multiple positions, Brown appeared in all 82 regular season games for the Nuggets last season. The 30-year-old averaged 7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 steal in 24.4 minutes per game, with a solid shooting line of .475/.385/.762.

Any rival NBA team, with the exception of those right up against a hard cap, would have the ability to claim Brown’s non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract off waivers on Monday and have him on their opening night roster. But if he goes unclaimed, it’s possible the Knicks could try to bring him back later on, perhaps by completing an in-season trade to generate some cap flexibility.

As a result of Brown’s release, Wiseman – a former No. 2 overall pick – is on track to make the Knicks’ regular season roster as the club’s third center behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond.