Free agency opens in a few hours, and the Knicks still don’t know if they can keep the center who helped them win a championship. That’s not how title teams are supposed to spend their summer.
Mitchell Robinson helped anchor that run, and now he’s the name sitting at the center of New York’s offseason puzzle. The team that just won it all might not have room to keep him.
How the Knicks Could Still Save Mitchell Robinson
GettyKnicks Trade Could Decide Mitchell Robinson’s Free Agency Future
SNY’s Ian Begley laid out the most direct path forward. “If Dolan and the Knicks don’t change their stance on the second apron, they would need to shed salary, presumably by trading Pacome Dadiet, Tyler Kolek or Miles McBride, in order to make Robinson a solid offer.”
That means dumping one of those guys for next to nothing, maybe a second round pick or just cash, purely to get their salary off the books. The Knicks would not be looking for a real return, just relief.
Trading Kolek and Dadiet for a player on a rookie minimum salary would shave around $3.9 million off the books, but the Knicks would still need to fill those roster spots with minimum contracts, so the real breathing room ends up being thinner than it looks on paper.
Still, if the moves go through cleanly, New York could potentially put a competitive offer in front of Robinson before another team swoops in.
Owner James Dolan has made his stance clear since June. He does not want the Knicks crossing the NBA’s second apron, a luxury tax line projected near $222 million for next season. Robinson’s old deal paid him roughly $15 million a year, and matching that now would push New York right past it.
After signing Landry Shamet to a four year deal, the Knicks sit about $9 million under that threshold. That is not nothing, but it is not enough room to give Robinson a real offer either, not with other free agents still needing contracts.
The Market Closing In on Robinson
GettyKnicks May Trade Miles McBride to Keep Mitchell Robinson
Robinson is 28, was the longest tenured Knick on last year’s roster, and ranked 13th in the league in rebounding while playing under 20 minutes a night. Teams around the league have noticed.
The Lakers and the Nets are both tracking him. Los Angeles needs a center badly, and unlike New York, they can offer real money without worrying about an ownership mandate killing the deal.
That is the corner the Knicks are painted into. Every day free agency runs without a move, the chances of Robinson leaving for a bigger offer somewhere else go up.
If he does walk, New York’s internal options are Ariel Hukporti and Mohamed Diawara. Neither is a like-for-like replacement, especially on the offensive glass, which was Robinson’s calling card.
The Knicks are also keeping tabs on Kevon Looney, as a fallback at center. It is a solid plan B, but it is still plan B. Robinson helped win them a title, and right now, the front office is running out of ways to keep him.
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