Knicks' Mitchell Robinson a question mark the team can't answer
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson looks on against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 19, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It took a knee injury suffered by Nikola Jokic as the Denver superstar headed toward what appeared to be another Most Valuable Player award for the subject of availability to move front and center again.
Only one player has ever won the MVP award in the NBA in an 82-game season while falling short of the 65-game minimum the league put into effect in the 2023-24 season — Bill Walton in 1977-78. And as the injury reports around the NBA will reflect, it hardly has pushed players onto the court.
But it also brings to light a lesser-talked-about aspect of this subject, the medical staff leading the decisions of when a player is best suited to take the floor. And that brings us to Mitchell Robinson.
Maybe Robinson would get some consideration for some sort of an award, or at least put his name in the record books with his offensive rebounding numbers. But entering Friday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden — a game he sat out because of left ankle load management — he already had sat out one-third of the first 33 games of the season.
The thing is, it’s a reality of the NBA that players are sidelined now. Some, such as Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard, have suffered devastating injuries. Jokic's knee won’t even be reevaluated for four weeks. Giannis Antetokounmpo has missed 14 games. Trae Young, who sat out Friday night against the Knicks, has played only 10 games this season.
And then there are the rest days that are an accepted part of the game, even with the rule changes. Golden State sat out Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green on Friday against Oklahoma City in a nationally televised game.
For the Knicks, Robinson’s absences might seem like a fact of life by now. He played only 17 games in the 2024-25 regular season, so he’s ahead of that pace — but according to the team, he doesn’t have an injury. He is load-managing the ankle to help preserve him for the whole season and, the Knicks hope, through a long postseason run.
That was the plan last season, too, as Robinson sat out the first 50 games. The team said he was ramping up to full health.
But no matter how accustomed the Knicks may be to it, Robinson can be a huge factor in a game, and it’s not ideal for them to be missing him every time there is a back-to-back set.
“He is [a force] and, shoot, we’d rather have him than not,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “When we do, he definitely protects us on the back side in a lot of different ways.”
Could the Knicks have used him to help counter Victor Wembanyama on Wednesday? Could he have helped avoid the beating the Knicks took on the boards in that 134-132 loss? Brown has bemoaned the team’s inability to sustain a defensive effort for 48 minutes, but being without Robinson is a huge part of that — just like the absence of Josh Hart, Landry Shamet and Deuce McBride before the latter returned from a sprained ankle.
“At the end of the day, I truly believe the guys that we have on this roster are more than capable,” Brown said. “I’m going to keep pushing. No matter who’s in uniform, I’m going to keep pushing them to play better because I believe in them. I feel they believe in each other, too, and what we’re doing.''
The Knicks have gotten by with the play of Jalen Brunson, who was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December, and Karl-Anthony Towns, who was a late scratch Friday with an illness (second-year center Ariel Hukporti replaced him). Players have stepped up off the bench consistently and contributed, but it's hardly the ideal game plan.
But Robinson is a huge part of what the Knicks have built. That is why they are being so careful in managing his health. And it’s also why the team has not yet engaged in contract extension talks even though he will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
This front office has not allowed any of the Knicks' rotation pieces to walk for no return, either dealing them before free agency hits — see Julius Randle and Immanuel Quickley — or signing them to an extension, as they did with Brunson. As Brown acknowledged, Robinson is a key part of their title hopes. But he also remains a question mark that the Knicks haven’t been able to answer for years.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
