Malcolm Brogdon made a shocking announcement on Wednesday that he would officially be retiring from the NBA effective immediately. Of course, this leaves the New York Knicks in a pretty unfavorable position.
Brogdon had of course previously signed a one-year, minimum deal with the Knicks, and he was expected to provide additional ball-handler depth for this group. Now, at 32 years old, it appears he'll permanently be stepping away from basketball and pursuing other endeavors in his life.
With Malcolm now out of the picture in New York, the Knicks are down a seasoned playmaker who would have the ability to run the offense when Jalen Brunson rests. The Knicks now have nearly no time until the regular season starts, and they'll have to determine the best course of action when it comes to replacing this open roster spot.
Since Brogdon's deal with the team was non-guaranteed, his sudden retirement means that the Knicks can indeed re-fill his roster spot. The problem, of course, is that they now have to completely re-work their idea of how they want this final roster spot to work.
The Knicks must work quickly to offset Malcolm Brogdon's retirement
Especially now with Russell Westbrook signing with the Sacramento Kings, which also occurred on Wednesday, there are not a ton of obvious options on the market when it comes to veteran ball-handlers that New York knows they can trust. As an alternative to signing someone new, there's also of course the option of keeping the final roster spot open for now and leaning more on others already within New York's locker room.
Miles McBride would now appear to be the primary candidate already on the roster to pick up additional minutes this season. Knicks fans love Deuce, but it's safe to say the team would have been probably happier having both Brogdon and McBride to lean on instead of having to put more on just one guy.
At the end of the day, Malcolm did what was best for him and his life. But it's going to be hard for New York, knowing what they're missing out on. The Knicks we're already looking to lean into a different type of offense this season with Mike Brown as the head coach, having Brunson play more off-ball and decreasing his usage a bit. It's safe to say Brogdon could have played a big role in helping this strategy succeed.
New York is going to have to find another guard who can operate as a complement to their best player, without derailing the spacing or slowing down the offense. The Knicks were already looking at some injury troubles headed into the year, and this development just put them in that much more difficult a situation.