7 New York Knicks who are as good as gone this summer

No. 1: Mitchell Robinson

In contrast to Randle, the New York Knicks have been actively shopping Mitchell Robinson, hoping to entice a center-needy team to take him on and lower their tax bill, making it more palatable to re-sign Isaiah Hartenstein and fit under one of the tax aprons. Up until July 2nd it would truly have been a surprise if Robinson was still on the Knicks by the end of the summer -- unless, of course, Hartenstein walked.

Hartenstein was a monster starting in place of Robinson, which is coloring the Knicks' view of their longtime center. Do they still view Robinson as an above-average starting center? Or do they recognize his limitations and want to continue searching for a different option?

There will likely be plenty of suitors for Robinson, if not many with the cap space to absorb his salary entirely. Teams like the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans have made no secret of looking for a starting center, while teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic could also be interested.

What will likely happen, barring Robinson being paired with Randle in a trade for a more expensive player, is a smaller deal where Robinson is traded for a player or two who together make around $7 or $8 million, using the new salary-matching rules to trade Robinson to a team over the cap while reducing their total salary by as much as possible. Such a move would also not cause any issues with the tax aprons and free up some breathing room to go out and land another center

Robinson was drafted by the Knicks and blossomed into an elite offensive rebounder and shot-blocker who started 196 games for the team over a six-year career; it won't be an easy decision to trade him, especially when he essentially only lost his job due to injury. Building a contender means making the hard moves, however, and moving on from Robinson seems to be in the cards for Leon Rose and company.