Landry Shamet signed with the Knicks on a non-guaranteed contract, but after Donte DiVincenzo was sent to Minnesota to facilitate the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, Shamet appeared to be a lock for the Knicks roster. However, unfortunate luck struck when Shamet suffered a dislocated shoulder on a freak preseason play. The severity of the injury is uncertain, as it could require surgery and have a varying recovery time depending on the extent of ligament damage.
Saturday, the Knicks waived Landry Shamet (he was on an Exhibit 9 contract, meaning he will get just $15,000 from New York).
Knicks waive Chuma Okeke, Landry Shamet and T.J. Warren.
— NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) October 19, 2024
This leaves the Knicks in a tight spot: They currently have 12 players on their roster and have to get that number up to 14 by early in the season (teams can be below 14 players on the roster for only 28 days over the full course of the season and never for more than 14 days in a row). However, under the new CBA the Knicks are hard-capped at the second apron and are just $3.58 million below that line.
Which means, they can't afford to go out and get two veterans on minimum contracts to fill those two roster spots. Instead, they will likely sign one veteran minimum deal —
the Celtics just waived Lonnie Walker IV
, he is one possibility but there are plenty of others such as Marcus Morris Sr. — and then will promote one of their two-way players to a full-time contract (Ariel Hukporti is rumored to be the most likely).Being that close to the hard cap will make it challenging for Leon Rose and the Knicks front office to maneuver during the season if needed. However, all this stress is about moves at the back of the bench, the front of this bench should have the Knicks at title contenders this season.