The New York Knicks may face legitimate threats to bringing back Mitchell Robinson next season. Try as they might, hope as they will, the Sacramento Kings are kidding themselves if they believe that they’ll be one of them.
According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post, “sources around the league have pegged” the Chicago Bulls of the Western Conference as a “threat to pry away Robinson in free agency.” Kings general manager Scott Perry is cited as the catalyst of Sacramento’s interest. He was the Knicks’ GM back in 2018, when they drafted the big man at No. 36.
This is…something.
It’s not that New York shouldn’t worry about Robinson leaving. The second apron beckons, and even if they’re willing to enter it, the Knicks also have the futures of Mohamed Diawara (restricted), Landry Shamet (Early Bird), Jose Alvarado (player option), and Jordan Clarkson (non-Bird) to figure out.
Unless this season ends in a title, Robinson shouldn’t be considered a lock to return. And yet, New York could forfeit the Eastern Conference Finals for no worldly reason tomorrow, and its seven-foot possession-battle cheat code has no shot of leaving for Sacramento.
The Kings have nothing to offer Mitchell Robinson
Money and minutes are presumably the biggest reasons why Robinson would abscond from the only NBA team he’s ever known. The Kings can offer him exactly neither of those things.
Sacramento enters the offseason more than $4 million into the luxury tax, which is hysterical for a team that won just 22 games. Without shedding salary, it doesn’t have enough room beneath the first apron to offer the full $15 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. Its best spending tool, as of now, is the mini mid-level, which is worth about $6.1 million. The Knicks aren’t letting Robinson walk for that.
While the Kings could make moves to access the bigger MLE, dumping money just to chase a career backup whose injury history requires perpetual load management borders on franchise malpractice. Put another way: It would be so Kangz.
Still, even if they travel down that path of inevitable self-sabotage, their best pitch is far from intimidating. The Knicks can match whatever offers Robinson receives using his Bird rights. If he leaves because someone offers him a $2.1 million raise off the $13 million he made this season, they were never serious about keeping him.
This is before considering the makeup of Sacramento’s roster. Its depth chart is already populated by Domantas Sabonis and standout rookie Maxime Raynaud on the frontline. There’s a chance Robinson would be tying his name to the NBA’s foremost laughingstock to be…the third big.
It isn’t just the Kings that the Knicks shouldn’t fear
The Kings rumor is actually a microcosm of the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson problem, which is to say, they may not have one.
Teams need cap space to make an offer lucrative enough that New York gets uncomfortable. Happenings at the trade deadline made it so only three teams currently have more than the $15 million mid-level to spend: The Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, and Brooklyn Nets.
Not one of those teams has been credibly linked to Robinson. At least two of them (Chicago and Brooklyn) are operating on timelines that don’t warrant backing up the Brink’s truck for a 28-year-old non-shooter with scattershot health.
Viewed through this lens, the Knicks may face little to no resistance retaining Robinson. Even if that overstates their leverage, it doesn’t change the interpretation of this rumor. The Kings are an unserious basketball team, and an even more unserious threat to pry Robinson out of the Big Apple.
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