Knicks waive Landry Shamet, must fill out roster with limited cap space

Landry Shamet signed with the Knicks on a non-guaranteed contract, but after Donte DiVincenzo was sent to Minnesota to make the Karl-Anthony Towns trade work, Shamet seemed destined for the Knicks roster. Then Shamet suffered a dislocated shoulder on a fluke preseason play, an injury that could have a wide range of recovery times depending upon if there is ligament damage and if surgery is needed.

Saturday, the Knicks waived Landry Shamet (he was on an Exhibit 9 contract, meaning he will get just $15,000 from New York).

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.