Knicks Rumors: Pistons Interested In Trade For Mitchell Robinson
By James Ryder
With just days to go before the NBA’s Trade Deadline, the New York Knicks have finally had one of their players not named Julius Randle reported to be drawing interest from another team.
SNY’s Ian Begley said on Sunday that there are teams interested in Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, and he specifically mentioned the Detroit Pistons are one of them.
"Begley stated, “Robinson would fit… the same timeline as rookie Cade Cunningham” and that “it’s unknown” whether or not Detroit would seek to acquire Robinson via trade or in free agency. Robinson, if not extended by New York or another team prior to the start of 2022 free agency, will be an unrestricted free agent."
Mitch has always been one of the Knicks’ best players since they selected him with the 36th pick in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft.
Should the Knicks trade Mitchell Robinson?
After an injury-plagued 2020-21 season, Robinson struggled to start this year, but he has been a force of late.
In January, Robinson averaged 10.6 PPG, 9.1 RPG, and 0.9 BPG in 26 minutes a night across 13 games. He also shot an absurd 82.6% from the field.
Defensive and offensive rebounding has always been his calling cards, so seeing him be an active presence in the paint on offense has made him even more valuable to the Knicks in 2022.
Robinson is very much your prototypical run and jump center, but at just 23-years-old it makes sense for both New York and Detroit to see him as a nice future building block.
I am sort of surprised though given that Motor City has their own very promising center, Isaiah Stewart, who as a sophomore is already just as good as Robinson.
I would even say Stewart is clearly a better offensive player while having a higher game-to-game stat ceiling at the age of 20.
Regardless, if Begley is right, then the Knicks may need to entertain a trade with the Pistons if they plan on getting something out of Robinson, assuming they don’t plan on extending him or fear they can be outbid in free agency.
So, let’s look at what a deal at the deadline may look like.