SNY’s Ian Begley will be responding to Knicks questions from readers. Here’s the latest…
What is the current temperature on trading Mitchell Robinson with the trade deadline coming up and him still not on the court? – @KaplanMatanel
In a perfect world, the Knicks would have Mitchell Robinson in their rotation against the Lakers on Saturday, playing center behind Karl-Anthony Towns.
But the Robinson situation has been far from perfect.
Robinson had surgery on his foot this past May (after a gratuitous takedown by Joel Embiid in the playoffs). In September, the Knicks pegged December/January as a timeframe for Robinson’s return if his rehab went well. Clearly, something hasn’t gone according to plan. As of Wednesday, Robinson still hadn’t been cleared for contact.
Given those circumstances, my read on the Knicks and Robinson is the same as it would be for most NBA players at this time of year: he’s available if a team meets the Knicks’ asking price.
I don’t know what their asking price would be for Robinson. But I do know that the Knicks front office doesn’t like to trade players at their lowest value. Because of the injury situation, I don’t think they’d get much back for Robinson right now.
“He’s the perfect player for what they need (behind Towns),” an Eastern Conference exec said earlier this week. “Why trade him now?”
Robinson is under contract through 2025-26. Given the uncertainty around his injury, I’d guess that the Knicks would need to add sizeable draft compensation or another player to any Robinson deal. Again, the Knicks – and most NBA front offices – don’t like to trade a player at their lowest value. Would Robinson be available via trade for the right return? Certainly. The Athletic reported earlier Thursday that New York is open to moving Robinson.
But in a perfect world, Robinson stays in New York and has a chance to play with this team. It’s easily the most talented team of Robinson’s Knicks tenure. It’s clear, though, that things went sideways during Robinson’s surgery or rehab.
As we’ve noted on The Putback and elsewhere, Jonas Valanciunas will be on the Knicks’ radar if they decide that Robinson can’t fill the backup center role.
Something else worth noting: Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges are all under contract through next season. In Bridges’ case, he is eligible for an extension this offseason. It’s worth pointing this out because, barring a seismic trade, this group should have multiple seasons together. Obviously, the Knicks want to win a championship as soon as possible. That’s why they put this team together. But they don’t need to make a short-sighted, lopsided trade now because their window is closing this season.
Another trade note: The Suns have had Bogdan Bogdanovic on their radar. They touched base with the Hawks on Bogdanovic recently. Phoenix could put together a package of Jusuf Nurkic and draft capital to entice Atlanta. The Arizona Republic reported earlier that the Suns have talked to Atlanta about Nurkic. It will be interesting to see what the Hawks do at the deadline in the wake of Jalen Johnson’s unfortunate season-ending injury.
One other note on Atlanta: the club has been open to discussions on Clint Capela. Capela was one of several big men on New York’s radar in the 2024 offseason.
QUICK HITTERS:
What brought upon the new minute distribution and expanded rotation? Was there a decision made that the prior distribution wasn’t sustainable? Did the front office get involved? – @Cilin22
Thanks for the question, Cilin. One thing I feel confident in saying here: Tom Thibodeau makes the final call on lineup decisions. Maybe there was some input from the front office or coaching staff, but rotation/minutes decisions are ultimately up to Thibodeau. There was a pattern in the first four games of New York’s winning streak that suggested Bridges might play fewer minutes in the nine-man rotation. But that wasn’t the case against Denver on Wednesday.
A few games in a row where the KAT + bench lineup has given very good minutes. Do you see Thibs continuing with this specific rotation? Or just utilizing the bench more in general? – @SG212MSG
Given the patterns of the last five games, I assume Landry Shamet will continue to get consistent minutes as the ninth man in the rotation. We saw the Towns + bench lineup again against Denver on Wednesday and it didn’t produce as well as it had previously. I would guess that Thibodeau continues to take a look at it.
Mitch, Payne and Sims for [Corey] Kispert and [Saddiq] Bey? – @sol_sports
I assume the Knicks would have to give up much more to obtain Kispert. Can’t see this one happening as is.
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