Mitchell Robinson needed to leave early in the third quarter of the New York Knicks’ Sunday night victory over the Chicago Bulls with an apparent right ankle injury. Though he eventually returned to the floor, you never quite know the full deal with him, especially when he’s listed as “Out” against the Washington Wizards.
Fortunately, though, this latest brush with ankle issues is nothing to worry about.
Mitchell Robinson back to locker room after bad landing pic.twitter.com/h8hnyaQnt1
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) November 3, 2025
“For Mitchell Robinson, the idea that he got back to the court, got back to the game, tells you all you need to know,” SNY’s Ian Begley said. “Not a serious injury.”
This comes as a stark relief given—well, given everything about Robinson’s past and present. He missed most of last season recovering from left ankle surgery, and then missed the start of this year under murky ankle-injury management circumstances. The idea that he could be dealing with an issue on the other ankle is horrifying.
The Knicks can’t afford to be without Robinson for long
On paper, the Knicks seem built to navigate extended absences from their injury-prone big man. But they aren’t going to be anywhere near their peak without him—particularly on defense.
More than that, the frontcourt independent of him has been extremely up-and-down. Guerschon Yabusele is either injured, a total free-agency bust, or both. Karl-Anthony Towns is still playing through a quad strain, and he continues to be among the most maddeningly inconsistent stars the league has ever seen.
New York is drawing a blank after those two. Sophomore Ariel Hukporti and two-way player Trey Jemison III already needed to be dusted off. Neither looks ready for duty as a primary backup big.
Losing Robinson also prevents the Knicks from getting more intel on his pairing with Towns. The offense struggled during their minutes together against Chicago, but the team is plus-11 through 12 minutes of action with them this year.
This duo’s court time is already repressed. Robinson is on a minutes limit, and the lack of depth behind him caps how much Mike Brown can stick with KAT-Mitch stints. Adding in another extended absence from the latter would be an unmitigated disaster for the sample size, and the essential information that comes with it.
New York and Robinson aren’t out of the wood yet
While everyone must breathe a sigh of relief after the latest update, they can’t get too comfortable.
Robinson’s past is littered with checkered availability. Another scare is always just around the corner. New York is already resigned to managing his workload, which almost assuredly means we’ll never see him play both ends of back-to-backs.
Make no bones about it, this is a smart approach to a player who’s missed around half the team’s games over the past five years. It also, however, underscores the fragility of the Knicks’ frontcourt situation. They have talent. Plenty of it. Whether that talent is reliable will be a matter of course.