![\"Mitchell](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246765473-e1768173890894.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Mitchell Robinson #23 of the New York Knicks <\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt that Knicks<\/a> center Mitchell Robinson<\/a> has value. He is the lone true center in the team\u2019s playing rotation, the only real rim protection on the roster and easily the best rebounder on the team\u2013and among the best in the league. But there\u2019s also no doubt what the downsides of Robinson are. He has bad ankles, and the team is doing all it can to manage him through this season, with frequent rest days and limited minutes on the floor when he does play.<\/p>\n The Knicks have played 38 games. Robinson has played 26 of them, averaging just 19.3 minutes per game. The idea is to hold Robinson back early in the season so that he can ramp up in the stretch run and be at his peak in the playoffs.<\/p>\n Given the Knicks\u2019 roster and payroll limitations, it\u2019s a situation the team has to live with. But it is also a situation the Knicks could seek to change soon. That\u2019s because Robinson will be a free agent next summer, a period that will make the Knicks seriously question how willing they are to continue the coddling Robinson requires.<\/p>\n Mitchell Robinson Leaving Free Agency to His Agents<\/p>\n The Knicks will be in an interesting position with Robinson, because they know his value and have devised a method with which to at least attempt to extract that value. But on the open market, would other teams be willing to pay big money for Mitchell, given that he played just 48 games in his previous two seasons and is going to be a part-time player for most of this year?<\/p>\n Stefan Bondy of the New York Post<\/a> asked Robinson about his upcoming free agency, and Robinson declined to elaborate.<\/p>\n \u201cI tell you this every time, brother,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cI let my agent handle that. That\u2019s what you got an agent for. Let them do your (expletive).\u201d<\/p>\n It is a tricky job ahead for Robinson\u2019s agents<\/a>, Thad Foucher and Joe Smith. When healthy, Robinson is an excellent defensive center, but there\u2019s little evidence that Robinson will ever be fully healthy again. Drumming up offers from teams for a player who averages 8.8 rebounds but scores just 4.5 points per game and shoots only 39.0% from the free-throw line is problematic.<\/p>\n Knicks in the Drivers\u2019 Seat<\/p>\n That could put the Knicks in the drivers\u2019 seat for re-signing Robinson. Because New York has so much money allocated to players like Jalen Brunson<\/a>, Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> and OG Anunoby, they need to have a cost-effective center. Robinson\u2019s warts will keep his price down, and create an opportunity for the Knicks to keep him without breaking the bank.<\/p>\n If the Knicks do keep Robinson without unloading salary elsewhere, they\u2019re going to land in the dreaded second apron. That will limit how far the Knicks will go to keep Robinson.<\/p>\n And, according to former Nets<\/a> executive and ESPN cap guru Bobby Marks, Robinson will have a hard time finding a deal outside of the Knicks.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you go outside of your own team [to sign as a free agent], it just becomes a lot more challenging,\u201d Marks told The Post. \u201cTo try to find an offer for someone who averages 20 minutes a night.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Knicks\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Mitchell Robinson #23 of the New York Knicks There\u2019s no doubt that Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-407531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}