Though it may have come in an incredibly small sample size, last season the New York Knicks proved to be truly dominant when both Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson were sharing the floor together.
From landing in the 100 percentile in points per 100 possessions (132.2) and the 99 percentile in offensive rebounding percentage (38.1) to finishing in the 83 percentile in point differential (+6.7), these two flashed incredible upside potential as a double-big tandem.
Heading into year two together, The Athletic's Sam Vecenie revealed on a recent edition of the Game Theory Podcast that "it feels like" new head coach Mike Brown is leaning toward running with this twin-tower experiment as part of his starting lineup for the 2025-26 campaign.
Now, while this concept should certainly excite Knicks fans, as the possible heights this team could reach with such a configuration for an entire season are undoubtedly rousing, there is the negative side effect that could come with high-end success, which is Mitchell Robinson pricing himself out of New York heading into the summer of 2026.
Cash-strapped Knicks could be priced out of Mitchell Robinson re-signing
Already, the Knicks are slated to be a first-apron team this coming season, as their fourth-highest payroll of $199,779,184 is roughly $4 million over the threshold.
With their recent decision to extend Mikal Bridges to a new four-year, $150 million deal, they seem all but guaranteed to dip into the second round come 2026-27.
Of course, when it comes to this dreaded tax penalty, teams that extend into it are still able to retain their core players rather seamlessly -- as ESPN's Bobby Marks recently laid it out, the second apron only really impacts a team "if you're trying to acquire players outside of your own core."
Because of this, even with their cash flow restrictions, should they view him as an integral part of their foundation, extending Robinson should very much be on the table for Leon Rose and company.
However, as things currently stand, there's no real indication that a new contract is coming for the extension-eligible center, which, in turn, will likely have him play out his final year under his current deal and heading into unrestricted free agency next offseason.
This is where things could get ugly.
As Vecenie noted in the podcast episode, as of this moment, the jury is still out on what Robinson can receive on the open market.
On the one hand, his inability to remain healthy throughout his career (has seen over 60 games played just three times in his career) is without question a major deterrent when it comes to a team possibly shelling out substantial coin for his services.
With that said, when the big man is actually active, he's one of the best shot-swatters and board-gobblers the game has the offer, as he averages a rebound percentage of 17.6 and an electrifying blocks percentage of 7.1 for his career.
If he can stay on the floor, with a full season's worth of work running alongside Towns in the starting five, should they keep up their insane level of production from 2024-25 there's reason to believe that Robinson could ultimately wind up drawing a considerable amount of attention from other center-needy clubs and, in turn, price himself out of the Big Apple with a sizeable-enough offer.
Outside of health, a major factor that will go into what the 27-year-old can earn on the open market will be how he's utilized in coach Brown's system this coming year. If he plays anything like he did when healthy last season, the expectation should be that Robinson will be in line for a sizable payday, perhaps one that the Knicks simply won't be able to match.