The former No. 2 overall pick wins the final roster battle in training camp and lands back on a regular season roster for the first time since last December. Second apron limits forced the defending champions to choose between him and Brown.
James Wiseman has made the New York Knicks. The defending NBA champions waived veteran guard Bruce Brown on Saturday, October 17, clearing the way for the 25-year-old center to claim the team’s final roster spot ahead of Tuesday’s season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers.
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the move, saying Wiseman was set to make the regular season roster as a reserve center. The Knicks then confirmed Brown’s release.
For Wiseman, it is a second life in the league. A little more than a year ago, his career looked to be in serious doubt.
Why the Knicks chose James Wiseman over Bruce Brown
The Knicks entered camp with 13 players on guaranteed contracts and five veterans fighting for spots on non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deals: Wiseman, Brown, Drew Eubanks, Tony Bradley and Ochai Agbaji.
Eubanks, Bradley and Agbaji were waived earlier in the week, which left Wiseman and Brown as the last two standing. New York technically had room on its 15-man roster for both, but keeping the pair would have pushed team salary above the NBA’s second tax apron. Owner James Dolan has made clear the team will not cross that line, HoopsRumors reported.
The Knicks clearly valued Brown, a 30-year-old who won a title with the Denver Nuggets in 2023. The front office looked into trades involving young players Pacome Dadiet and Tyler Kolek to create room under the apron, but no deal came together. With Brown’s contract about to begin counting against the cap day by day, New York let him go and kept James Wiseman.
Any rival team that is not up against a hard cap can now claim Brown’s minimum contract off waivers. If he goes unclaimed, a return to New York later in the season remains possible.
How James Wiseman earned his Knicks roster spot in preseason
Wiseman did his part in October. He appeared in four preseason games and totaled 32 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks in just 46 minutes of action, according to SNY.
He also filled the Knicks’ most obvious need. Standing 6-foot-11, he gives the champions a true third center behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond, a role nobody else on the guaranteed roster was built to fill.
He also had a familiar face on the bench. Knicks head coach Mike Brown worked with Wiseman during their time together with the Golden State Warriors, a connection several Knicks reporters cited as an edge for the young center throughout camp.
James Wiseman’s comeback, from No. 2 pick to Achilles tear
The Warriors selected Wiseman second overall in the 2020 NBA Draft. He showed promise early, but a serious knee injury cost him about a year and a half and stalled his development in Golden State.
He moved on to the Detroit Pistons, where he played a bench role, before joining the Indiana Pacers. In the first game of the 2024-25 season, he tore his Achilles tendon and missed the rest of the year. The Pacers waived him last December, and he has played only a handful of NBA games over the past two seasons.
The Knicks gave James Wiseman a training camp contract this fall. Now he will be on the floor, or at least on the bench, when New York raises its championship banner on opening night.
What comes next for James Wiseman and the Knicks
Making the roster is the first step, not the finish line. Wiseman will be the third option at center, so his minutes are likely to depend on the health of Towns and Drummond. Any opening, however, gives a player who was once billed as a franchise cornerstone a chance to prove the James Wiseman Knicks gamble was worth it.
The Knicks open the 2026-27 season at home against the 76ers on Tuesday, October 20.
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