NY Knicks: What Clint Capela’s extension means for Mitchell Robinson

The NY Knicks young big man, Mitchell Robinson, may be in for a payday.

Yesterday morning, the Atlanta hawks re-signed center Clint Capela to a 2-year, 43 million dollar contract extension, and it could have implications for Robinson.

NY Knicks: Is a new Mitchell Robinson contract on the horizon?

Just over a week ago, the New York Post’s Marc Berman reported that the Knicks were impressed with Robinson’s added this strength this offseason and are open to a contract extension for their young center.

There isn’t exactly a clear picture as to what a Mitchell Robinson contract would look but Clint Capela’s extension is a new piece of information that could give us an idea.

Robinson isn’t worth the same contract as Clint Capela. The 27-year-old Capela has a few years under his belt now as a double-double machine and his first season with the Hawks saw him become an elite rim-running partner alongside Trae Young.

While Robinson isn’t at Capela’s level yet, there are some strong indicators in his game on the court, along with his physical tools and advanced metrics that show some signs of developing into a player of a similar mold and caliber. In an article last week, I compared Mitchell Robinson’s early career trajectory to other centers around the league, and Capela was one of the names that stood out as a clear comparison.

Robinson isn’t going to get the same 21.5 million annually that Capela is, but Capela isn’t the only big man who got paid.

The Boston Celtics just dished out a 4-year, 54 million dollar contract for their young big man, Robert Williams.

Williams has an interesting player profile and physical skillset and is tasked with a lot of the same responsibilities as Robinson. Williams didn’t even play over 20 minutes per game last season, so the contract extension shows how much faith Boston has in their young big man. The Atlanta Hawks were clearly happy to lock down their big-man for a few more years.

Do the NY Knicks have that same faith in Mitchell Robinson?

If I was to take a guess at what an extension would look like, I believe it will be worth slightly more annually than Williams’ deal. Capela’s new contract goes to show that big men with his skillset are still valuable. Perhaps Robinson’s new deal would be about 48 million over 3 years? 16 million annually.

We’ll see if the NY Knicks and Mitchell Robinson will look to get a deal done soon.