The New York Knicks did a great job of keeping their core together this summer. Unfortunately, they lost Mitchell Robinson, who decided to sign a deal with the Boston Celtics in free agency. It was a brutal blow, and according to a Knicks front office executive who spoke with Spotrac’s Keith Smith at Summer League, they wanted to keep him, but they just couldn’t.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” they told Smith. “You want to keep everyone, especially after you accomplish what we did together. But you just can’t. We’re excited to have Andre (Drummond) in the mix now. He’s as good of a backup center as there is in the league. We’ll miss Mitch for sure, but all you can do is keep moving forward.”
Robinson was a crucial part of the puzzle in New York for years, and even though he couldn’t stay healthy, the rebounding and interior defense were elite.
Knicks wanted Mitchell Robinson back but couldn't afford it
After three straight years of failing to appear in 60 games, Robinson finally reached that mark last season. New York managed his minutes well, and he was able to play a role in their NBA Championship run, too.
But as the Knicks attempt to navigate the second apron, cuts were inevitable. As much as they would have wanted to, New York couldn’t bring back everybody from last year’s roster.
The Knicks re-signed Jose Alvarado, Mohamed Diawara, and Landry Shamet, and they also signed Drummond in fre agency to replace Robinson and Ariel Hukporti, who joined the Philadelphia 76ers.
Had the Knicks tried to keep Robinson, they would have had to make some other guys go. In all likelihood, they would have had to let all three of those guys walk: Alvarado, Diawara, and Shamet.
Robinson’s deal with the Celtics was a three-year, $47.4 million contract. In the first year of his deal, Robinson will be making just over $15.0 million, which is an expensive deal for the Knicks to have had on board.
Considering New York reportedly has no interest in going over the second apron, signing Robinson would have taken up all the space Alvarado, Diawara, and Shamet have signed for. And it still may not have been enough.
In an ideal world, the Knicks could have kept Robinson around and run it back with him backing up Karl-Anthony Towns. But as the front-office executive said, all the Knicks can do now is keep pushing forward.
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