{"id":116107,"date":"2025-01-04T18:17:26","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T23:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=116107"},"modified":"2025-01-04T18:17:26","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T23:17:26","slug":"knicks-injured-center-mitchell-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/04\/knicks-injured-center-mitchell-robinson\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Recovering Center Carries More Value On Court if Healthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Knicks injured center\u00a0<\/span>Mitchell Robinson<\/span><\/a>\u00a0hasn’t played a minute in the 2024-25 NBA season yet. He underwent foot surgery in the offseason and has been rehabbing ever since. While the\u00a0<\/span>Knicks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0expect Robinson to return to play at some point this season, his trade value remains in question, as does whether or not the Knicks will deal him before the February 6th deadline. Speculation says Mitchell’s time in New York may be up, but sources say the Knicks might see it differently.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knicks Recovering Center Carries More Value On Court if Healthy<\/h2>\n

Knicks Center Mitchell Robinson Could Finish Season in NY Despite Trade Interest<\/h3>\n

When New York traded for former\u00a0<\/span>Minnesota Timberwolves<\/span><\/a>\u00a0big man\u00a0<\/span>Karl-Anthony Towns<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in the late minutes of the offseason, it significantly boosted their center position. The move to sacrifice\u00a0<\/span>Donte DiVincenzo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Julius Randle<\/span><\/a>\u00a0was necessary, considering that\u00a0<\/span>Isaiah Hartenstein<\/span><\/a>\u00a0left in free agency. The Knicks had to make a move with Mitchell down, so they did.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Mitchell still on ice and his timetable to return still relatively foggy, with Towns in town, Mitchell has garnered much trade rumors and speculation.\u00a0<\/span>According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv<\/span><\/a>, teams have called to ask about Mitchell’s status. It makes sense, considering the quality of player Mitchell is when he’s healthy and playing basketball. He’s a solid paint defender with strength and size suitable for rim protection and guarding some of the league’s best big men. His only flaw of late is his inability to avoid injuries. Apart from missing New York’s first 35 games this season, he missed 51 last season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, despite Mitchell’s current status, Begley believes that the Knicks might look to keep their big man past the deadline due to the value he holds when he’s healthy. It would not be such a bad idea, given the Knicks depth behind Towns isn’t outstanding. Speaking of depth, it’s also rumored that\u00a0<\/span>Precious Achiuwa<\/span><\/a>\u00a0could be on the trade block. If New York sends off Achiuwa, Mitchell will likely stay for at least the remainder of this season. That is unless they find another center to replace both players. <\/span><\/p>\n

Long-Term Planning<\/h3>\n

Hypothetically speaking, if Mitchell avoids a trade this season, that’s not to say he remains in the Knicks\u00a0long-term plans. Mitchell is a starter in the NBA; all health and availability concerns aside, he’s a starting center. With KAT now the team’s premier big man, Mitchell’s role is significantly reduced. If not now, the offseason would see the Knicks move on from Mitchell.<\/p>\n

Of course, what happens to Mitchell in the present depends on his recovery. If the Knicks don’t feel they can rely on Mitchell as a solid backup to Towns for a playoff push, they have other options on the trade market they can target.\u00a0<\/span>Jonas Valan\u010di\u016bnas<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Nick Richards<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>Goga Bitadze<\/span><\/a>\u00a0were included in New York’s interest during the summer. Valan\u010di\u016bnas would cost the most in return, but being inserted into a Knicks lineup behind KAT would significantly boost their playoff chances. While his offensive upside is nowhere close to KAT’s,\u00a0Valan\u010di\u016bnas is a strong defender and presence in the paint. The Knicks already formidable lineup would only get better.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York Knicks injured center\u00a0Mitchell Robinson\u00a0hasn’t played a minute in the 2024-25 NBA season yet. He underwent foot surgery in the offseason and has been rehabbing ever since. While the\u00a0Knicks\u00a0expect Robinson to return to play at some point this season, his trade value remains in question, as does whether or not the Knicks will deal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":116111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1608,62,4721],"tags":[1553,49021,993,167,510,213,1616,2978,3148],"class_list":["post-116107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knicks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-donte-divincenzo","tag-goga-bitadze","tag-isaiah-hartenstein","tag-jonas-valanciunas","tag-julius-randle","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nick-richards","tag-precious-achiuwa"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116107"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116121,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116107\/revisions\/116121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}