The New York Knicks' refusal to surpass the salary cap's second apron resulted in Mitchell Robinson committing to a three-year, $47 million deal with the Boston Celtics. Especially given that it followed up Ariel Hukporti's departure for another Atlantic Division squad, the Philadelphia 76ers, Leon Rose and William Wesley's front office is still in need of help at the center position.
They were "rejected" multiple times by the New Orleans Pelicans in their reported attempts to trade for Yves Missi, despite what Chris Haynes said was "feverish" interest. The report lines up with murmurs of New York's interest in Missi that surfaced at the trade deadline, but also reveals an unfortunately inseparable reality of the Knicks' refusal to surpass the salary cap's second apron.
The problem with the Knicks' open refusal to surpass the second apron is that the rest of the NBA world was listening, too. New York certainly did lose their previously longest-tenured center to the Celtics, but they also lost plenty of leverage in the center market.
Knicks lost more than Mitchell Robinson when the big signed with Boston
Even with Friday's news that the Knicks added Andre Drummond behind Karl-Anthony Towns in their center room, that room is still only home to a party of two. The loss of Hukporti to a divisional rival leaves them with two-way player Trey Jemison III as their best option, unless they go back to the free agency well.
Ian Begley and James L. Edwards III have both reported, for SNY and The Athletic respectively, that the Knicks have some level of interest in former Denver Nuggets big man Jonas Valanciunas. His defense graded out in the NBA's 26th percentile in the 2025-26 season according to Dunks & Threes' estimated plus-minus metric.
By the same metric, Drummond and ex-New Orleans Pelicans big man Kevon Looney produced better defensive seasons in 2026. Looney, however, dealt with injury problems that resulted in him playing just 21 games overall throughout the campaign.
His impact was minimal, in part as a result of the small sample size and also because he was generally contributing to losing basketball in New Orleans. But concerns about his mobility, particularly in the wake of that knee injury, are certainly substantiated in fact.
Regardless, the Knicks still need a third center. The New York Post's Stefan Bondy suggested, just an hour ahead of the Drummond signing, that the team might take several veterans into camp on Exhibit 9 contracts that aren't fully guaranteed. That's how they had Garrison Mathews, Malcolm Brogdon, and Landry Shamet all in the mix during training camp last season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google