There’s one Knicks 15-man roster spot up for grabs, but it may not be decided on the court in the preseason finale Friday against the Cavaliers.
One of these players, Omari Spellman, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Ignas Brazdeikis won’t make the final roster.
Guard Myles Powell, the undrafted Seton Hall star, is probably earmarked for the G-League bubble in Atlanta that could start around Jan. 10, according to sources.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has not been able to make much of a game evaluation on the four. Brazdeikis, their 2019 second-round pick from Michigan, hasn’t played.
Kidd-Gilchrist, the No. 2-overall pick in the 2012 draft (by Charlotte) is a defensive specialist. He has been out the three games with an illness, but could be back Friday.
Spellman, the former Villanova power forward, got in for 4:49 Wednesday and missed both of his long-range attempts.
Thibodeau didn’t sound like he’d see any of the four Friday as he attempts to figure out a rotation for the Dec. 23 season-opener in Indiana.
“That’s the challenge of it all,” Thibodeau said. “We were talking about it this morning in our coach’s meeting. You’d like from that standpoint to have eight preseason games so you can get a look at everyone. But a short preseason, playing four games, you’re concentrating, particularly for us, a new coaching staff and a lot of new players, you’re trying to get set on your rotation. That’s made it difficult.”
Thibodeau said the evaluation would have to take place in practice. The approach to Brazdeikis is particularly vexing. He played in just nine games last season. Knicks general manager Scott Perry paid the Kings $1 million to move up in the second round to snare Brazdeikis, who shined at the 2019 summer league.
Brazdeikis, a 3-point shooting threat, hasn’t been made available for comment. In October, Brazdeikis told The Post, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Knicks president Leon Rose’s biggest failure this offseason may turn out to be his inability to improve the team’s 3-point shooting. The Knicks are now 21 of 90 (23.3 percent) from beyond the arc in the preseason.
“Usually in preseason your defense is ahead of your offense,’’ Thibodeau said. “We’ll continue to work on it. As time goes on, we’ll get better and better at it. We had some high-quality shots for a number of 3s and we didn’t make it.”
The Knicks started Wednesday’s game 3-for-25 from deep.