Go ahead and purchase those James Wiseman No. 35 New York Knicks jerseys, folks. He is making the final roster.
While not official, the outcome is inevitable following Drew Eubanks’ injury. As Shams Charania of ESPN first reported, the 29-year-old big man suffered a torn pectoral muscle, will miss extended time, and is being waived as a result.
This clears the way for Wiseman to gobble up the Knicks 14th roster spot. The team’s only viable alternative is Tony Bradley, and Wiseman was already considered higher up in the pecking order than him.
In the end, this doesn’t really change much for New York. Because if we’re being honest, Wiseman always should’ve been the training-camp center it rolled with into the regular season.
James Wiseman already made the most sense for the Knicks
Among the Knicks’ trio of third-center options, a healthy Drew Eubanks was considered the safest possible bet. Whether that’s true is debatable.
Even if it were, the 14th roster spot isn’t play-it-safe territory. The end of the bench is where flexibility-strapped contenders like New York should be taking bigger swings, embracing higher risks in exchange for the potential of more profound returns.
Wiseman fits that bill better than Eubanks and Bradley. Heck, he is the superior fit relative to the Knicks’ own initial standards.
The front office apparently told free agents ahead of training camp that it was in the market for a younger center. Wiseman isn’t exactly a fountain of youth, but he’s heading into his age-25 season. Both Eubanks and Bradley, meanwhile, would be playing out their age-29 campaigns.
Beyond that, Wiseman might allow the Knicks to replace a shred of the Jalen Brunson-Mitchell Robinson connection they lost when the latter signed with the Boston Celtics.
That duo has ranked among the top-10 most potent pick pairings over the past half-decade, according to Sports Radar’s Todd Whitehead. Neither Eubanks nor Bradley offers as much lob-threat potential off screens (and slipped screens) as Wiseman. Frankly, at this stage of his career, the same can be said about Andre Drummond.
The Knicks could still end up trading for another center. But that is more of a midseason to-do item. Right now, they are beholden to the options already in the building. With Eubanks’ injury nudging him toward the exit, Wiseman has become the clear choice to land a guaranteed contract—just like he was all along.
Add us as a preferred source on Google