Would you consider this trade for Mitchell Robinson?
I’m going to present two different trade scenarios, one of them is a dream trade while the other is more realistic.
Here is the dream trade:
In this deal, both teams would be able to acquire their center of the future.
Maybe Detroit wants to have a committee at center by playing both Robinson and Stewart. Maybe they think they can slide Stewart to power forward.
Who knows what their intentions for Stewart are as it pertains to a Robinson acquisition, but let’s assume Detroit sees the latter as the better piece moving forward.
This would be a very good trade for New York in my opinion.
I’m not saying I have a dog in this race (though I’d love to see Mitch stay in NY), but being able to transition from Robinson to Stewart is something the Knicks can’t pass on if they were willing to part with Robinson.
Stewart has two more years on his rookie contract, meaning in those two years combined the Knicks can pay a center who is just as good, with upside, about half of what Robinson will probably make in one year on his next contract.
Sure, losing Deuce this early into his career will sting, but one could argue that Stewart will one day be much better than the two players combined.
This trade may be highly unlikely anyway, so moving on…
You can see now why I wanted to dream option for a minute there first, right?
This is the type of trade I see Steve Mills making in my nightmares.
Unfortunately, this is probably the best the Knicks can do in a trade with Detroit and it’s not pretty.
The Pistons do not have much that makes sense for them to offer that would qualify as equal value.
Robinson is worth a first-round pick, but he also isn’t since he will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
In any trade, the Pistons would need a commitment to a contract extension from Robinson if they are going to be willing to make a move, and that’s after NY decides they’ll trade him.
This is the type of trade New York would only make if there were no other offers from other teams and if they knew for a fact that Robinson wanted out, neither of which is going to be the case.
Even if all of those factors lead to a reality where this trade happens, how can the Knicks possibly justify it?
I would rather lose Robinson for nothing than for a backup center getting paid $25 million over the next two seasons as a replacement.
Not to mention Cory Joseph is a 30-year-old third-string point guard with a player option he’ll probably take for 2022-23.