The New York Knicks have three open roster spots now that the Karl-Anthony Towns trade is official. The team must fill two of those three spots before the regular season.
Last week, Landry Shamet, Marcus Morris Sr, and Chuma Okeke were on non-guaranteed deals. On Saturday, New York waived Morris and Okeke to make the KAT trade work financially. The Knicks offered Morris another training camp deal, but he declined it.
On Wednesday, New York's PR X (Twitter) account tweeted that the team signed three players to Exhibit 10 deals. Okeke is back. The Knicks also signed Alex O'Connell and Damion Baugh. Ian Begley reported that the Knicks signed T.J. Warren to an Exhibit 10 deal, which isn't official yet.
The belief is that Shamet will get one of the open roster spots, so Warren, Okeke, O'Connell, and Baugh will compete for one of the other spots.
Knicks sign Okeke, O'Connell, and Baugh to training camp deals
Okeke spent the first four seasons with the Magic after being selected No. 16 overall in the 2019 NBA Draft. The forward has potential but isn't a strong three-point shooter. He's not the 3-and-D wing that Donte DiVincenzo is.
O'Connell is a guard who spent three seasons at Duke (2017-20) and two at Creighton (2020-22). He went undrafted in 2022. He played with the Stockton Kings (Sacramento's G League affiliate) in 2022-23, averaging 9.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. Westchester acquired O'Connell's rights from Stockton last year, but he played in Italy's top league in 2023-24.
Baugh played for Memphis (2019-21) and TCU (2021-23) in college. He went undrafted in 2023. Baugh signed an Exhibit 10 deal with LA last season but was waived. He played for the South Bay Lakers, averaging 8.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.1 assists per game, shooting 44.8% from the field and 30.4% from three.
Warren has the most NBA experience out of the four. The Suns drafted the forward No. 14 overall in 2014. He spent his first five seasons in the league in Phoenix. He's since played for the Pacers (2019-21), Nets (2022-23), Suns (2022-23), and the Timberwolves (2023-24). Warren averaged 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game (11 contests) at the end of last season for Minnesota.
Injuries have plagued the 31-year-old's career. He missed the majority of the 2020-21 season and the entire 2021-22 season. Warren has struggled to stay with a team since.
The Knicks have 20 players signed to the roster. Players who sign an Exhibit 10 deal and are waived can make $77,500 if they spend 60 deals with the Knicks' G League affiliate.
Let's see how the training camp battles play out.