When the New York Knicks first announced that 7-foot big man Mitchell Robinson would require ankle surgery, his initial recovery timeline was estimated at 8-10 weeks. Eight weeks at the low end would put him at an evaluation in February, with a chance to return for a playoff push around March.
Now, The Athletic's Shams Charania is reporting that the Knicks have applied for a $7.8 million Disabled Player Exception as Robinson is now being deemed done for the season. The original estimation was already a massive blow for the Knicks, but at least they could've gotten Robinson back at some point. Now, that will likely not be the case.
Now that he's done, it will be interesting to see if the Knicks' top-ten offense becomes less viable in the postseason without the boost that Robinson's offensive rebounding gives to a pretty difficult shot diet.
Robinson, whom the Knicks signed to a steal of a deal last summer (four years, $60M) was leading the league with 5.3 offensive rebounds per game when he went out. He was scooping up over 17% of New York's misses, per Cleaning the Glass, when he was on the floor -- which goes a long way for a Knicks team whose collective shooting percentage ranks 23rd league-wide.
The good news is they have a while to figure this out with Jericho Sims and Isaiah Hartenstein. The latter will be the new starting center, at least until Sims gets back (1-2 weeks, ankle), and perhaps they go on the market for another big man.
Hartenstein, in many ways, provides more offensively than Robinson, and he's a pretty nasty offensive rebounder himself. Andre Drummond might be a trade target to watch as something of a pseudo Robinson replacement. Drummond, 30, is leading the league in games played, while providing big-man support for the Bulls. He's currently averaging 6.8 total rebounds per game, including 2.9 offensive boards. He's in the final year of a two-year, $6.5 million pact he signed with Chicago.
The defense also suffers greatly without Robinson, who is terrific as a rim protector covering for a starting perimeter that isn't well suited to defend penetration; the defense ranked dead last over a six-game stretch, four of which Mitchell missed, beginning with their In-Season Tournament loss to the Bucks. Robinson was great last season, and this season was making a case for his first All-Defense selection as well.
The Knicks are tough, and I think they'll muscle through Robinson's absence to some degree. They have at least some cushion built up with a 16-11 record, but they have cleaned up against sub-.500 teams while losing two of every three to above-.500 teams. With the ninth-toughest remaining schedule, per Tankathon, Robinson's absence will likely be felt more and more as the season goes on.
