Moses Brown, T.J. Warren, Chuma Okeke On Knicks’ Radar

For the first time this season, the Knicks are in position to sign a 15th man. New York has been limited by a restrictive hard cap since acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns in October and currently has $540,127 in wiggle room below that second-apron cap, as we detailed earlier this month. As of Friday, a rest-of-season minimum-salary contract for a veteran free agent would carry a cap hit of $539,876.

The Knicks added a crucial piece to their active roster ahead of Friday’s game, with center Mitchell Robinson cleared to play for the first time this season following ankle surgery. But they didn’t make a free agent addition on Friday and are still weighing their options for that 15th spot.

According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link), center Moses Brown, forward T.J. Warren, and forward Chuma Okeke are among the players on the Knicks’ radar for their final roster opening.

Warren and Okeke have long been viewed as candidates to become New York’s 15th man — both players were in camp with the team in the fall and have spent the season playing for the Westchester Knicks. They’re also both thriving at the G League level. Warren has averaged 24.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game on .492/.359/.836 shooting in 30 outings for Westchester, while Okeke has put up 17.0 PPG and 8.4 RPG with a .457/.365/.706 shooting line.

Brown is technically under contract with Dallas right now, but his 10-day deal expires on Saturday night. Because the Mavericks have even stricter hard cap constraints than the Knicks, they can’t complete another signing until April 10, meaning they won’t be able to immediately re-sign Brown once his current contract is up.

That could open the door for the Knicks or another team to sign the veteran big man, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds in a start for the Mavs on Thursday. Although New York got Robinson back on Friday, the team traded away Jericho Sims at this month’s deadline and saw rookie center Ariel Hukporti go down with a knee injury earlier in the week, so its frontcourt depth has taken a bit of a hit.

It’s worth noting that 10-day signings are an option for the Knicks if they don’t want to commit to a rest-of-season deal with so much time still left in the season. A 10-day contract would carry a cap charge of $119,972 and would allow the club to audition players or temporarily address holes on the roster while retaining late-season flexibility.

As cap expert Yossi Gozlan notes (via Begley at SNY.tv), not signing anyone on Friday means the Knicks will have enough room under their hard cap to complete a second signing before the end of the regular season if they so choose.

New York currently has 14 players under contract, so a second signing would require the team to waive one of the players on its standard roster. But if the Knicks, for example, want to have both Warren and Okeke on their playoff roster, they could sign one of them on Saturday and the other on the final day of the season, cutting a little-used player such as Delon Wright at that time. The later they complete one signing, the earlier they could make a second roster move.