UVA Basketball alum Malcolm Brogdon. Photo: UVA Athletics
UVA Basketball alum Malcolm Brogdon has signed a supposedly non-guaranteed deal with the New York Knicks, but all indications are, calling the deal non-guaranteed is just a formality.
“Going into my 10th year, I wanted to be in a good organization that’s competing and trying to win a championship. I had that in Milwaukee, Boston, and here I think there’s a real shot,” said Brogdon, the 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year as a second-round draft pick, who is averaging 15.3 points and 4.7 assists per game over his nine years in the league.
Brogdon spent the past two seasons on the periphery of the NBA – in Portland in 2023-2024, and Washington this past season – after winning the Sixth Man of the Year award in his single season in Boston, 2022-2023, which ended with the Celtics being upset in a seven-game Eastern Conference Finals by the Miami Heat.
The Knicks enter the 2025-2026 season as a Finals favorite, after dropping a six-game Eastern Conference Finals series to the Indiana Pacers, coached by UVA Basketball alum Rick Carlisle, in June.
Brogdon figures to slot in as the backup to Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who averaged 26.0 points and 7.3 assists per game in 35.4 minutes per game last season, but will likely see the minutes decrease under new head coach Mike Brown.
All five of the Knicks’ starters averaged at least 35 minutes per game last season under Tom Thibodeau – the five were all in the Top 20 players in terms of usage.
That was a factor in New York’s stumble in the Eastern Conference Finals, and why the franchise moved on from Thibodeau despite his success – Thibs has won 998 games as an NBA head coach, and led the Knicks to the playoffs in each of the past three seasons.
“Anything that can take pressure off Jalen is the big goal going forward with this team,” Brogdon said. “That’s what I want to do this year: take pressure off him on both sides of the ball, and everybody else.”
Brogdon’s main limitation over his NBA career has been availability – he hasn’t played more than 75 games in a regular season since his rookie year in 2016-2017, and he was on the floor for just 39 games with Portland in 2023-2024 and 24 games last season with Washington.
When he’s out there, he’s productive – he averaged 12.7 points and 4.1 assists last season with Washington, despite getting a career-low 23.5 minutes per game.
His per-36 minutes numbers – 19.5 points, 6.3 assists – were actually in line with his career per-36 numbers (18.9 points, 5.8 assists per 36 minutes).
“This is a roster that, in the past, has been in need of more ballhandlers and more creators, more versatile players that can handle the ball,’’ Brogdon said. “I think I bring that. I can help guard. I’m a Swiss Army knife in a lot of ways and have a lot of strengths.”
He had other options.
“I was really set on being on the Knicks,” Brogdon said. “It’s a privilege to put this jersey on and compete with this team, especially with where they are and the year they came off of. I didn’t want to be anywhere else.”