Knicks waive Bruce Brown after exploring ways to keep him

The Knicks have waived veteran swingman Bruce Brown, the team announced Saturday, after exploring avenues to keep him entering the regular season.

Brown, one of five veterans in camp on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract, survived Thursday’s first round of cuts when the club waived Drew Eubanks, Tony Bradley and Ochai Agbaji. Center James Wiseman was considered the favorite to claim the 14th roster spot, with New York carrying 13 players on guaranteed contracts.

The Knicks technically had room to retain both Wiseman and Brown, but doing so would have pushed their salary into second-apron territory, which owner James Dolan has adamantly opposed. As Bobby Marks notes, the Exhibit 9 language protecting the team in the event of a preseason injury would have been voided once the regular season tipped off.

Brown has plenty of fans within the organization, and the front office reportedly looked into trades involving Pacome Dadiet or Tyler Kolek to create room under the second apron, but found no deal it liked.

A versatile 6’4″ guard who can defend multiple positions, Brown appeared in all 82 regular season games for the Nuggets last season, averaging 7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steal in 24.4 minutes per game on .475/.385/.762 shooting.