Mitchell Robinson is extension eligible, and the New York Knicks are not treating it like an urgent matter. This is to say: Their strategy is perfect. And the Los Angeles Lakers’ deemphasis of cap space is proof of why.
As NBA insider Marc Stein notes over at The Stein Line, the Lakers’ refusal to “consider trades for contracts that stretch beyond the 2025-26 season has thawed somewhat.” This flies in the face of Los Angeles’ presumed plan. With LeBron James coming off the books next summer, the team can chisel out north of $50 million in spending power.
Softening the desire for cap space speaks to the realities of NBA free agency. Big-name players aren’t leaving on the open market anymore. Trades are the vehicle through which blockbuster acquisitions go down. And that’s why the Knicks don’t have to fret over the future of Robinson.
Mitchell Robinson isn’t that big of flight risk next summer
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, 10 teams project to have significant cap space next summer. That number will decrease, if not plunge.
The Lakers are already apparently hinting that they may bow out of the cap-space game. Other teams on that list have flexibility predicated on cutting ties with players they can’t necessarily afford to lose. The Los Angeles Clippers won’t have cap space unless they bid farewell to James Harden.
Not every squad with spending power will be backing up the Brink’s truck for a center, either. The Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards are all set at the 5. The same goes for the Detroit Pistons (Jalen Duren), and Utah Jazz (Walker Kessler).
Meanwhile, teams on the prowl for a big might not gravitate toward Robinson. The Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls each project to need a 5, but are they really going to throw stacks of cash at a then-28-year-old who’s missed nearly half of all his team’s games over the past half-decade?
The Knicks are smart to slow-play Mitchell Robinson’s future
None of this is meant to imply Robinson is worthless, or entirely expendable. He’s not. He may actually be critical to optimizing Karl-Anthony Towns. Plus, like James L. Edwards III of The Athletic says, the Knicks seem “willing to sign Robinson to a team-friendly extension.”
This is the correct approach. There are scenarios in which extending Robinson makes all of the sense in the world. Beyond those select cases, New York is better off keeping him trade-eligible throughout the season, and monitoring his availability relative to years past.
Maybe this wait-and-see approach costs some extra money in the end. That’s potentially problematic given the team’s investments across the rest of the core. New York will welcome that dilemma, because it means Robinson has played well enough to obtain serious leverage.
Then again, there may be nothing he can do to dredge up enough leverage to scare the Knicks, or price himself out of town. The reality is, no matter what he does, it’ll be a genuine shock if he’s fielding more than mid-level-exception offers on the open market next summer.