James Wiseman's Crucial Opportunity with the Knicks
James Wiseman will walk into New York Knicks training camp with a minimum deal, a medical file that reads like a cautionary tale, and one very real edge.
Mike Brown already believes in him.
The Knicks head coach, still a Wiseman backer according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, knows the former No. 2 pick better than most. That connection injects some intrigue into what might otherwise be a routine champions’ camp dotted with Exhibit 9 hopefuls and back-end roster battles.
This isn’t routine for Wiseman, though. It’s a crossroads.
A Coach Who’s Seen the Highs and the Halt
Brown sat on Steve Kerr’s staff in Golden State during Wiseman’s first two seasons with the Warriors. He saw the flashes that made the 7-footer a franchise bet in the 2020 draft — the soft touch, the easy elevation, the way he could change a possession just by being near the rim.
He also watched the stops and starts that derailed it all.
As a rookie, Wiseman put up 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, enough to tease the idea of a modern big who could run, finish and grow into something more. Then came the knee injury that cut that season short. Then the entire 2021-22 season lost. Then the trade to Detroit in February 2023, a move that signaled Golden State’s patience had run out.
His reset in Indiana barely got off the ground. Five minutes into the 2024-25 opener, Wiseman tore his left Achilles. Another year, another brutal interruption.
Now he’s 25, still 7 feet, still blessed with tools you can’t coach and a résumé you can’t ignore. The problem is the gaps. Availability. Defensive reads. Night-to-night reliability. Those questions follow him into every gym.
Brown’s backing doesn’t erase them. What it does guarantee is that Wiseman won’t be just another September body. His audition will be judged by someone who’s seen more than a handful of workout clips.
A Real Need in the Middle
New York has a basketball reason, not just a sentimental one, to take this seriously.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond anchor the center rotation. That’s a formidable top two. But with Mitchell Robinson and Ariel Hukporti gone, there’s no proven third option behind them. One injury, one foul-plagued night, and that gap becomes a problem for a team with title ambitions.
That’s where this camp battle sharpens.
Wiseman and Drew Eubanks are effectively fighting for that safety net role in the middle. Wiseman offers size, vertical spacing and rebounding upside — the kind of big who can stretch the floor vertically, if not yet horizontally. Eubanks, an eight-year veteran, brings something very different: experience, a known defensive baseline, fewer surprises.
The Knicks have 13 guaranteed deals on the books. They can carry 15 standard contracts but are expected to open with 14 unless they move more salary. Realistically, that means one seat is open when the regular season tips on October 21.
That last spot might go to a center. It might not.
Because there’s another fight playing out on the perimeter.
Wings, Guards and One Precious Seat
Bruce Brown, John Konchar and Ochai Agbaji round out the Exhibit 9 group on the wing. That trio offers something the Knicks also value: defensive versatility, shooting, veteran know-how on the edges of the rotation.
So the decision isn’t just Wiseman vs. Eubanks. It’s frontcourt insurance vs. another reliable perimeter piece.
Protect the paint and the glass, or bolster the wing and guard depth? Take a swing on upside, or lean into predictability? These are the calculations that tend to decide the 14th spot on a contender — a small move on paper that can loom large in May.
New York has been here before.
Last fall, the Knicks staged a similar camp competition, bringing in Landry Shamet, Malcolm Brogdon, Garrison Mathews, Matt Ryan and Alex Len. Brogdon’s surprise retirement cracked the door open for Shamet. He walked through it, played his way into the championship rotation, and eventually turned that chance into a four-year, $24 million contract.
One camp invite. One break. One career reset.
Wiseman’s Window
Wiseman now steps into that same narrow corridor of opportunity.
He arrives with a coach who already knows his strengths and his flaws, and still thinks there’s something there. That matters. It won’t hand him a roster spot, but it guarantees his minutes in camp will be meaningful, not ceremonial.
From here, the equation is brutally simple.
Can he stay on the floor? Can he defend within the scheme, not just chase blocks? Can he accept a limited role behind Towns and Drummond — screen, rebound, finish, protect the rim — without needing touches or headlines?
If he can, there’s a path to a reunion on opening night at Madison Square Garden.
If he can’t, the league moves on. The Knicks will, too.
