It didn't take long for Mitchell Robinson to enter into enemy territory after he helped the New York Knicks end their championship drought, as he signed a three-year, $47.4 million deal with the Celtics in free agency. He said on social media that he didn't want things to happen that way, implying he wanted to stay, so while you can't blame him, at the end of the day, he's still in Boston.
And by the time he will likely get his championship ring from New York, his first season in Boston will be coming to a close, as the Celtics aren't set to visit Madison Square Garden until Sunday, March 14 (less than a month before the regular season ends), for a 12 p.m. tip-off that will be televised on ABC.
Knicks first host the Celtics on March 14. This - presumably - is when Mitchell Robinson will get his championship ring. pic.twitter.com/gNO007mmG9
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) August 13, 2026
If you thought that 53 years was a long time, Robinson will have to wait nearly a whole extra year to get his ring, nine months after the Knicks won it all.
Maybe that's the NBA's way of wanting to inject some excitement into the final weeks of the season, but they didn't do themselves any favors by making that a noon tip. It warrants a primetime game on Friday or Saturday night, but hey, whatever! The league knows best, right?
Mitchell Robinson won't return to MSG until end of March
The Knicks will see Robinson for the first time in a Celtics uniform way earlier than that, as New York will travel to Boston on Friday, October 23, its second game of the season, and first away game.
After that, it will be almost three months until New York sees Boston again, which will happen on Wednesday, January 13. And after the Knicks host the Celtics for the first time in March, they'll do so again on April 4, the fifth-to-last game of the season.
Technically speaking, New York doesn't have to wait until March to give Robinson his ring, but that would only be right. It'd take away from the moment to present it to him in one of the Knicks' first two games in Boston, of all places. He deserves to get his flowers in the World's Most Famous Arena, in front of the best fans in all of sports.
As special as it will be, it will probably still be hard to stomach seeing Robinson in green, even that far into the season. He'll get an emotional video tribute and a standing ovation, but that's where the celebration will end.
For a few minutes, he will just be a Knick again, and all will be right in the world, that is, until he takes the floor for the Celtics.
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