The New York Knicks are apparently comfortable entering the season with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond as the only big men on the roster. That opens up all sorts of doors for how they go about filling their 14th roster spot.
One of those doors should include buying low on the injured Mo Gueye, who suddenly finds himself on the chopping block.
After bidding a late summer’s farewell to Devin Carter, the Atlanta Hawks must still wipe another player off their ledger so they can get down to 15 roster spots. Assuming they refuse to compensate a team to take on Buddy Hield’s or Corey Kispert’s contracts, this leaves Gueye, No. 52 pick Henri Veesar, and the recently acquired Ryan Nembhard as the most likely roster casualties.
Gueye is the best player from this bunch, even if we include Hield and Kispert, both of whom make too much to simply waive. But the 23-year-old fractured his left foot in July, and is recovering from surgery that could sideline him to start the season. That lack of availability stands to cost him a roster spot. The Hawks have two other combo bigs, Asa Newell and Zuby Ejiofor, they just selected in the first round during each of the past two drafts, and already guaranteed Veesar’s 2026-27 salary.
Under normal circumstances, the injury would preclude the Knicks from treating Gueye as a viable option. Except, well, these are no longer normal circumstances.
This is a unique opportunity the Knicks can’t discount
Someone with Gueye’s pedigree won’t always be this available. He is a clear rotation player who offers more defensive mobility and shiftiness around the rim than Drummond. He’s not as dominant on the glass, but he is a better finisher around the basket at this point of his career (71 percent last season) and has experimented with the three-ball.
Unlike Drummond, Gueye also has the chops to play in tandem with Towns, thanks largely to how well he moves his feet on defense.
Five of his seven highest-volume assignments last season were power forwards or wings. And he has never rated lower than the 92nd percentile in the total number of charges drawn, steals, and blocks recovered.
Perhaps best of all, Gueye is on the books for just $2.4 million. If the Hawks wish to trade him instead of waive him, the Knicks can accommodate that outcome, too.
The Knicks aren’t actually desperate for a third big…right now
In his latest mailbag for SNY, Ian Begley downplays the urgency with which New York is trying to land another big man. “The Knicks do not currently have a third center,” he writes, “but there is a strong degree of confidence internally in the Karl-Anthony Towns-Andre Drummond duo at the position.”
If the Knicks are a-okay soldiering onward with just two centers, then it certainly shouldn’t matter that Gueye won’t be ready to rock by opening night.
Granted, their comfort with a two-big rotation could prove temporary. They won’t want to expose OG Anunoby, Mohamed Diawara, or Josh Hart to too many small-ball-center minutes in matchups that don’t suit Drummond. The front office could prefer giving the 14th roster spot to someone who’s ready off-rip.
Then again, we’re talking about the 14th roster spot. Whether it’s Bruce Brown, Cam Whitmore, Drew Eubanks, Tony Bradley, John Konchar or someone else, the expectations for whomever gets the nod will be nonexistent.
Gueye breaks from that mold in a big way. And unless the Knicks suspect he’s out for the year, they have enough depth to bide time. Even if Towns drops to 30 minutes per game, the 19.5 minutes Drummond averaged last season more than offset what’s left. When he needs to play a little less, Mike Brown can push the “small-ball” button for a few ticks here and there.
Really, the only thing not to like is that Gueye won’t play right away. And when you consider how little anyone else the Knicks sign out of or entering training camp is going to play anyway, this isn’t actually a deterrent at all.
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