The New York Knicks opened a pair of training camp roster spots on Wednesday when they placed swingman John Konchar on waivers, a move that ended Konchar’s brief and unfinished stay in New York before the preseason even had a chance to take shape, the team announced.
For Konchar, the decision was not framed as a simple numbers crunch. The 30-year-old had been away from the team this week to handle a personal matter, and according to reporting around the organization, the two sides mutually agreed to part ways so he could take more time away from basketball.
That ending arrives after a career that began in 2019-20 and has now stretched across seven NBA seasons.
Konchar first carved out a reputation in Memphis as a sturdy, unspectacular wing who could fill almost any supporting role a coach asked of him. He never became a featured scorer.
His season scoring average never climbed above 5.1 points. What he offered instead was a mix of positional size, rebounding for a 6-foot-5 player, enough handle to help in transition, and the kind of multi-positional defense that keeps a player in a rotation even when the shot is not falling.
Over six and a half seasons with the Grizzlies, those traits made him a regular contributor before a February trade sent him to Utah.
New York had signed him this summer to a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract, the kind of deal that invites a veteran to camp without promising a regular-season job.
Even so, Konchar was widely viewed as a legitimate candidate to stick, competing in a crowded wing-and-forward mix that included Bruce Brown, Ochai Agbaji, James Wiseman, and Drew Eubanks. A career three-point rate of 34.9 percent suggested he could at least space the floor enough to stay on the court.
The personal situation changed the calculus. Rather than force a player to work through camp while his attention was elsewhere, the Knicks and Konchar chose a clean break.
The waiver also cleared space for other camp moves.
New York immediately signed forward Toby Okani to an Exhibit 10 deal, then later confirmed an Exhibit 9 contract for veteran center Tony Bradley and waived Okani again to open a two-way slot for Jaden Akins.
For Konchar, the next step is less about the Knicks’ roster math than about timing. A player who has spent every season since 2019-20 in the league now finds himself available again, with a long track record as a connector rather than a headline.
Teams looking for a wing who can rebound, defend more than one position, and accept a limited offensive diet will know exactly what they are getting.
Whether that next opportunity comes quickly will depend as much on his personal calendar as on the basketball one.
