Knicks' Search for Third Big Man: Chris Boucher Considered
The New York Knicks have a title-caliber core and a very specific problem: they still don’t know who their third-string big man is.
Ariel Hukporti’s departure left a quiet but important hole at the back of the rotation. The Knicks tried to fill it with size and experience, taking swings at Jonas Valanciunas and Moussa Cisse. Valanciunas slipped away. Dallas matched the offer sheet for Cisse. With training camp fast approaching, the market has thinned and the urgency has gone up.
So the search has shifted from splash to subtlety.
Boucher Enters the Conversation
Joseph Randazzo of Knicks on SI has put one name on the table: Chris Boucher.
“The Knicks likely consider some inexpensive options to fill out their depth at the center position. Chris Boucher may be an intriguing choice for them in their search,” Randazzo wrote, pointing to a blend of price, pedigree, and utility that fits what New York needs at the end of the bench.
At 33, Boucher is no mystery. He’s bounced around the league, but he has touched the very top of it. He held minor roles on the 2018-19 Golden State Warriors and the 2019-20 Toronto Raptors during their championship runs. Those weren’t starring parts, but they were meaningful reps in locker rooms that knew how to navigate the longest, most pressurized months of the year.
For a Knicks team openly chasing the NBA Finals again, that matters. So does his versatility.
Boucher can slide across the frontcourt, giving Mike Brown another long, active body who can toggle between the 4 and the 5. He offers a bit of stretch, able to step out and hit the occasional three, and he can still fly in from the weak side to challenge shots at the rim. On paper, that’s the exact kind of flexible, low-usage big who can survive in a deep rotation without demanding touches or minutes.
A Veteran Coming Off a Brutal Year
The flip side is impossible to ignore.
If New York turns to Boucher, it would be betting on a bounce-back from a veteran who just endured one of the toughest seasons of his career. Last year, he split time between the Boston Celtics and Utah Jazz and never found a real foothold in either spot.
In Boston, Joe Mazzulla barely used him. Boucher appeared in only nine games, averaging 2.3 points and 2 rebounds while shooting 32% from the field and 13.3% from beyond the arc. Those numbers are harsh, and the sample size is small, but they paint the picture of a player who never settled into rhythm or role.
The situation grew even more unforgiving after he was traded to Utah. The Jazz waived him, and his season effectively ended there. From that point on, he watched the league from the outside.
That kind of year can break a veteran. It can also sharpen him.
For a team like the Knicks, that edge has value. A hungry, motivated Boucher in a clearly defined role—spot minutes, energy, length, and professionalism—could be far more productive than his recent box scores suggest. His history on championship-level teams suggests he would understand pecking order and culture, and New York’s locker room under this regime has little patience for players who don’t.
New York’s Fork in the Road
Boucher is not the only name on the board.
The free-agent market still holds multiple big men with varying degrees of experience, skill, and risk. Some can be signed outright. Others might be pried loose via trade, with front offices around the league always listening on fringe rotation players and expiring deals.
New York can choose to move now, bring in a veteran like Boucher, and lock down the third-string center spot before camp opens. Or it can wait.
There is a real possibility the Knicks simply go into the season with two primary bigs in the rotation and treat the third spot as a floating role. They could lean on small-ball units, trust their wings and forwards to soak up minutes at the 4, and revisit the issue when the season inevitably shakes loose new options.
Every year, big men become available. Someone gets squeezed out of a rotation. Someone else gets waived. A veteran on a struggling team asks out. A name that isn’t even on the radar in August can be on the buyout market by February.
That’s the calculation for the Knicks’ front office right now: act early and secure a known, if imperfect, commodity like Boucher, or hold their nerve and wait for a potentially cleaner fit to surface mid-season.
They have time. They have options. What they don’t have yet is a decision.
And until they make one, that third big man spot will hang over a roster built to chase something far bigger than depth-chart trivia.
