The New York Knicks stand for the national anthem before playing the Washington Wizards at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 8 in New York. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
The New York Knicks have one open standard roster spot entering the 2026-27 season and five veterans on non-guaranteed camp contracts competing for it: James Wiseman, Bruce Brown, Drew Eubanks, Tony Bradley and Ochai Agbaji.
After two preseason games, Andre Drummond has claimed the backup center job, playing 32 minutes across both games, including more than Karl-Anthony Towns in Thursday’s 111-109 loss to Washington.
Eubanks, Bradley and Agbaji did not play Thursday, leaving Wiseman and Brown as the leading candidates. The Knicks sit $3,273,768 below the second apron, enough for one veteran minimum signing. Trading Pacôme Dadiet’s $2,983,680 salary would open room for both.
Here’s what we know: Five veterans signed camp deals for one spot on the Knicks roster. After two preseason games, Mike Brown has told us which two he’s actually looking at.
He didn’t say it in a press conference. He said it with minutes.
Thursday night, the Wizards beat the Knicks 111-109 at the Garden. Anthony Davis scored 16 in his first game for Washington, AJ Dybantsa had four steals in his NBA debut, and the crowd was loud enough, with chants aimed at Trae Young from the opening introductions, that it felt like more than a preseason game.
“The Knicks fans was into it all the way to the end,” Al from Harlem said on The Knick of Time Show postgame. “They were trying to see a buzzer-beater.”
They didn’t get one. But they got the clearest look yet at how this roster is going to shake out.
Two games in, the camp veterans and Drummond have been used like this:
Brown and Wiseman are the only two who have played in both games. Agbaji, Bradley and Eubanks sat Thursday at home against the biggest frontcourt the Knicks will see before opening night.
Preseason coaches’ decisions can include scheduled rest, and Brown has been rotating guys. But if all five were still in it, the minutes would be spread around. They aren’t.
Start with the one thing that isn’t up for debate anymore.
Drummond played 20:24 Thursday, more than Towns, Anunoby and every starter but Hart and Brunson. He had eight points, nine rebounds, five of them offensive, four assists and two steals, and the Knicks were plus-1 with him on the floor. Across both games, he’s plus-10.
The panel didn’t agree on what that means.
Al saw the hole Drummond can’t fill. “One thing Drummond doesn’t have: he doesn’t fill the dunker spot,” he said. “He’s not really a big lob threat.” When Mitchell Robinson rolled to the rim, he pulled the corner defenders in with him, and those corners were wide open. Al’s point is that Drummond’s role doesn’t create that gravity, so the corner threes the Knicks’ whole offense is built to produce won’t come as easily.
I pushed back on the show. Drummond makes better decisions on the short roll than Robinson did, and he hits his free throws, so the game doesn’t stall when he gets fouled. Brown has also been running offense through him at the elbow, the same spot Towns uses, and he has flowed into handoffs faster than I expected. I haven’t seen a Knicks center set screens with that kind of timing since Isaiah Hartenstein. My worry is finishing. Two games in, he hasn’t scored around the rim the way he used to.
Ryan G, back on the show after the summer, came away relieved. “Going into the season, I thought the big man position was really a big concern,” he said. “After seeing what Drummond has done in the first two preseason games, I’m not really that concerned anymore.”
Our fearless leader, J. Ellis, wasn’t ready to go that far. He wants to see Drummond against real size first. “It’s cool to do these things versus the so-so teams,” he said, “but I’m thinking about another chip, and to win another chip you’ve got to get through the big doors.” He means Cleveland, San Antonio and Philadelphia.
My read is in the middle. Drummond isn’t a playoff backup center. He doesn’t have to be. If he gets the Knicks through the regular season, they aren’t desperate at the trade deadline for an Yves Missi or a Moussa Diabaté, and that leverage matters.
If the Knicks keep one veteran, the evidence points to a third center.
New York has three two-way players: Tyler Nickel, Kevin McCullar Jr. and Jaden Akins. None of them is a big man. Behind Towns and Drummond, there’s nobody on a guaranteed deal or a two-way contract who plays center.
Wiseman is the only camp center getting real minutes. He’s scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting across two games, and he’s playing like somebody who knows what’s at stake.
“Wiseman is playing as if he wants a spot on this roster,” Ryan said.
Al went further. “I think he has that final center spot,” he said. Wiseman gives the Knicks something Drummond doesn’t: a big who threatens the rim on the roll. Al noticed it on Wiseman’s first possession Thursday, a lob that didn’t connect but still pulled the defense.
I made the same argument on the show from a different angle. When a defender walls Wiseman off in the dunker spot, he can reposition and find another way to score, and that’s a more advanced skill than Robinson ever showed. The coaching staff has simplified his job: run the floor, finish at the rim, defend. He looks better for it, and like Drummond, he came into camp noticeably lighter.
The weak spot showed up Thursday. He grabbed one rebound in nearly nine minutes on a night when Washington won the glass 67-51. A 7-footer has to do more than that.
I’ve been the loudest voice for Brown all month, and I still am.