Knicks forced to sign two players before Thursday, Feb. 22

We’re more than a week past the official trade deadline (Feb. 8) but that doesn’t mean all franchises across the Association have finished putting together their rosters, let alone comply with the NBA rules in place for the regular season.

When it comes to roster building and with trades not allowed anymore until after the playoffs, teams in the L are trying to snatch the best possible talent still available through the free-agent/buyout market.

We’ve already seen the likes of Philadelphia poaching Kyle Lowry from Charlotte after he got traded there by Miami. We’ve seen the Lakers fail to make a trade last week but convince Spencer Dinwiddie to sign a deal with them. We have former Knicks forward Danilo Gallinari joining the Bucks and Thaddeus Young signing with the Suns. On and on it goes.

We don’t know who will sign where next, but one thing is clear and that’s the fact that all NBA franchises must have at least 14 players signed to their standard roster going forward. The Knicks (12), for one, are not one of those teams, and therefore they will need to sign two players between now and next Thursday, Feb. 22.

Now, there’s a little lie in that statement. The Knicks currently have 13 players rostered if you include Taj Gibson among them. The thing is, Gibson’s operating under a second (and final) 10-day deal set to expire on Monday, Feb. 19. That means he won’t be with the franchise on Tuesday unless he gets re-signed for the remainder of the season, as the Knicks cannot offer him another 10-day deal. It’s either a fully or waiving him for the remainder of the year.

With that said, don’t rule out New York signing Gibson—even though he’s washed and gassed and all other tiring synonyms you can find to define him—for the full regular season and the postseason. It’s a quick addition, he won’t put on tough negotiations, and he’s already way into Thibs' inner circle of trust.

Taj will most probably not feature that much (if at all) once Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle return from their injuries (here’s hoping!) but he will be on the bench getting his reps as the future Ass Coach Thibs’ ever dreamed of having sitting next to him—a la Udonis Haslem in Miami for the past two, three, or seven seasons.

The other roster spot, however, is anyone’s guess to predict who will be filled with.

The most recent information we have about who will be signed to that 14th spot came from an Ian Begley report over SNY in which the beat reporter wrote the Knicks “have been exploring, per people familiar with the matter, signing one—or more—of their G League players to a standard contract.”

According to Begley, the franchise sees that as a “reward/promotion for a player—or players—who have excelled with Westchester.”

The candidates on that front are easy to list: Charlie Brown Jr., Jacob Toppin, and Duane Washington, all of whom are currently on two-way deals and would therefore be signed to regular, standard NBA deals for the remainder of the year.

Outside of reporters covering the Knicks from close range, not that much has leaked regarding potential buyout candidates signing with New York in the next few days and ahead of the playoffs. (As a reminder, a player must be waived and become a free agent before March 1st to be eligible to play in the postseason).

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype has been the only insider to link the Knicks to a player who is currently not with the organization but who once was a proud Knickerbocker: free agent center Nerlens Noel.

According to Scotto, Noel has received “exploratory” interest from the Knicks, the Rockets, and the Hornets. He was waived last September by the Kings and he’s not signed any other contract after that nor appeared in a single game this season.

Scotto also wrote that Noel “was liked by coach Tom Thibodeau“ in his time with the Knicks during the 2021 and 2022 seasons in which he played a total of 89 games (52 of them in the starting lineup) averaging 23.7 MPG and putting up averages of 4.6 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 0.8 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 1.9 BPG.

The Knicks traded Noel (along with Alec Burks) in the summer of 2022 to clear cap room for the signing of Jalen Brunson, and the Pistons waived Noel a few months later in February of last season after using him in just 17 games.

Other potential candidates (no leaked intel, just guessing) to sign a deal with New York that are currently free agents or expected to be bought out soon (although it must happen before Feb. 22 for the Knicks to have a chance at signing them under the 14-man-minimum roster-size rule) are Marcus Morris Sr. (San Antonio Spurs), Robin Lopez (Sacramento Kings), and Danuel House (Detroit Pistons).