Mike Brown Explains Knicks’ Decision to Sign James Wiseman Over Bruce Brown

Choosing between two players he liked was never going to be easy for Mike Brown, but the Knicks head coach said Sunday that the size and youth of center James Wiseman won out over guard Bruce Brown for the last roster spot.

New York waived Bruce Brown on Saturday, which means Wiseman takes the 14th and final roster spot for the defending champions.

The Knicks only had room for 14 players if they wanted to stay under the second apron, and a camp battle that started with five veterans came down to these two.

The front office wanted to keep both, but according to the New York Post, it could not find a trade to clear room by moving forward Pacôme Dadiet or guard Tyler Kolek.

Mike Brown called Bruce Brown a winner who can guard four positions and either run the offense or play off the ball, and he said the call was tough because Bruce Brown already knew a lot of the players, some from his own draft class.

As for Wiseman, he noted that center Karl-Anthony Towns is not that type of athlete and that center Andre Drummond still has some of the bounce he once had, while Wiseman is only 25.

"That vertical threat at the rim, the vertical threat defensively, how good he runs, you welcome that at his size and age and athleticism," Brown said after Sunday's practice.

I think the Knicks made the right call, even if it stings to let Bruce Brown go.

He fit what Mike Brown wants on both ends and loved the locker room from the start, but he is a wing, and this team needed a third center more than another one.

That need goes back to the summer, when losing center Mitchell Robinson to the Celtics in free agency left New York with the cheaper Drummond behind Towns, who has a habit of getting into foul trouble.

Bruce Brown now needs a new team, though the Post reported that the Knicks can still bring him back if they make a trade, and he told the paper earlier that he was surprised by how little interest he got in free agency after playing every game last season, so I expect him to land somewhere soon.

Wiseman was the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft, but he played only five games over the last two seasons after tearing his Achilles in his first game of the 2024-25 season.

Mike Brown was an assistant in Golden State when Wiseman was there, so he knows what the big man can do.

There was always a good case for giving Wiseman the spot, and now he has to earn it.

The Knicks raise their banner and host forward LeBron James and the 76ers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday before visiting Boston on Friday, and guard Josh Hart practiced Sunday after missing Thursday's preseason finale with a sore right ankle.

If Wiseman can protect the rim and run the floor when Towns sits or gets in foul trouble, the Knicks will be glad they picked a third center over a wing.