Without any recent ground-breaking news to discuss/debate, let's dig into the mailbag!!
Today's first query comes courtesy of "Knicks Centric" subscriber, Thomas King, who asks:
"Is Kevin McCullar's options limited to a 2-way or being waived if the Knicks sign another vet on min?"
Nope. There is another route to the Knicks roster for McCullar. Allow me to explain..
New York currently has 12 players signed to guaranteed contracts. They have to enter the season with at least 14 players on the roster (actually, they must get to 13 by Opening Night and 14 within two weeks of the opener). Thus, they need to sign at least two more players. Because Guerschon Yabusele settled for a bit less than the full taxpayer mid-level exception, New York has the flexibility to sign a vet free agent to a veteran minimum contract.
Then, for the final slot, New York would have only enough salary cap space remaining under the second apron to sign one of the team's (current or past) second-round picks to a rookie-minimum contract.
New York could sign Mohamed Diawara (whom they drafted with the 51st overall pick last month) or James Nnaji (the 31st overall in the 2023 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons, whose rights were traded to the Knicks).
Another option for New York would be to sign Kevin McCullar Jr., who was selected with the 56th pick in 2024. So, if the Knicks want to stash Diawara overseas for a year, they could ink McCullar. As you note, New York could also re-sign him to a two-way pact.
Next up, we have @independentnic, who asks, simply:
”Deuce or double bigs"
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Knicks Centric to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.