Knicks Sign Ex-Warriors Center Who Is Still Struggling to Find a Place in NBA

Just last year, an Exhibit 9 invite turned into the best break of Landry Shamet's career. He went on to become a trusted rotation piece on a championship team. New York is running that same long-shot audition again this training camp, and this time with a former No. 2 overall pick trying to salvage what's left of his once-promising career.

The Knicks announced they've signed James Wiseman to a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract. They added him to an increasingly crowded training camp battle for one of the team's final two roster spots.

He joins fellow Exhibit 9 signees Bruce Brown, Ochai Agbaji, John Konchar and Drew Eubanks in that competition, per ESPN's Shams Charania.

The "struggling" label isn't unfair given what Wiseman's career has looked like since Golden State drafted him second overall in 2020. He tore his Achilles in the first game of the 2024-25 season and has appeared in a combined five games over the past two seasons, most recently getting released by the Indiana Pacers in December.

Across 152 career games spanning five seasons and four organizations, Wiseman has averaged 9.0 points and 5.5 rebounds. He has shot 56% from the field, numbers that hint at real physical tools without ever translating into a consistent NBA role. He's still only 25, which is part of why New York is willing to take what Hoops Rumors described as "almost literally no risk" on him.

Wiseman's addition deepens an already stacked center competition behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond. He is set to join Eubanks and Liam Robbins in that specific fight for frontcourt minutes.

New York has now brought in five players on non-guaranteed deals - Wiseman, Brown, Agbaji, Konchar and Eubanks. They also reportedly showed earlier interest in Ben Simmons before he signed with Sacramento instead.

According to ESPN's Bobby Marks, the Knicks have only two open roster spots but can realistically fill just one without making a trade. A second addition would push New York's payroll into second-apron territory. The team currently sits $17.9 million over the tax threshold for the coming season.

None of the five non-guaranteed signees are guaranteed anything beyond a training camp invite. Reports suggest that New York is deliberately stacking the competition with recognizable names to maximize their evaluation pool before final cuts.

Brown, a 2023 NBA champion with Denver who played all 82 games last season, is widely viewed as the most proven of the group and the presumptive favorite for the open spot.

That leaves Wiseman fighting from a considerably longer shot position. And betting that a fresh environment, a full offseason of health, and a lower-pressure competition for playing time can finally produce the kind of NBA role his draft position once promised, and on a team that's shown, via Shamet's example just one year ago, that this exact path can actually lead somewhere.