The Knicks have begun trimming their roster in advance of the regular season, announcing today (via Twitter) that they’ve waived forward Jamel Artis. The club is now carrying 19 players.
Artis, a 6’7″ swingman out of Pitt, signed with the Knicks this summer as an undrafted free agent. He made his debut for the club on Tuesday night against the Nets, and was reasonably productive in limited action, scoring five points in seven minutes.
Assuming Artis clears waivers and doesn’t sign with another NBA team, he’ll be eligible to join the Westchester Knicks, the Knicks’ G League team, as an affiliate player. The Knicks also have an open two-way slot and could sign Artis to a two-way contract. However, if that was the plan, the club likely would’ve kept him on the roster a little longer and simply converted his deal to a two-way pact, rather than waiving him.
With Artis out of the picture, the Knicks are now carrying three players on non-guaranteed contracts — Jarrett Jack, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, and Nigel Hayes. With 15 players on fully guaranteed salaries, it will be an uphill battle for any of those camp invitees to make the regular season roster.
Looking at the team last night Damyean Dotson looks like he lwill get the twoway contract and Jarrett Jack makes the team. If they cut Jack they will add a player cut from another team or through a trade.
Wait if they have 19 players split up as 15 guaranteed and 3 non guaranteed something is not right. Or am I missing something?
The 19th is a two-way contract, which we’re sort of considering a separate thing for now.