The New York Knicks won't be defending their 2026 NBA Championship at full strength. Mitchell Robinson, previously the longest-tenured player on the roster, signed a three-year, $47 million deal with the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
The move immediately stung Knick fans hoping that concerns regarding the second apron would be washed away by news that Robinson was staying around. It stung, again, when the realization hit that he'd be joining one of the Knicks' longtime rivals and divisional opponents.
On Thursday, though, Robinson seemingly made things worse with a response on Instagram to former teammate OG Anunoby's comment on his "farewell post." The center wrote that he didn't want to leave the Knicks, sacrificing his first impression with fans of the Celtics to let out his true feelings about his departure.
Robinson reveals on Instagram that he didn't want to leave the Knicks
In response to a comment from Anunoby with an emoji of a sad face, Robinson roped his former teammate into some drama by explaining that he tried to stay with the Knicks – and didn't want to leave.
"I tried brother I didn’t want this to happen hopefully the truth comes out at some point,” Robinson replied.
Some fans may have felt particularly spurned by the center's decision to sign with the Celtics. HBO's Winning Time provided those fans with an evergreen clip to summarize their feelings toward Boston, as a sports city. But it seems like burning the Knicks in free agency was the opposite of Robinson's intentions, going into the summer.
New York made clear, weeks before he left for the Celtics, that they wouldn't be signing any contracts that took their spending into the NBA salary cap's second apron. As a result, they could not pay Robinson anything close to a fair market rate.
Team governor James Dolan said on WFAN that going into the second apron was "suicidal" in the modern NBA. It remains unclear, though, whether or not the tax bill – or temporary penalties of the second apron – were the primary impetus behind their refusal to spend.
It seems that, regardless of why the Knicks wouldn't keep Robinson, the center finds it important to clarify to fans that he never wanted to leave. His note that he "tried" to stay implies that he couldn't.
That seems like a fair way to frame a refusal to accept far less than the free agent market has determined he's worth.
Add us as a preferred source on Google