The New York Knicks are a team that everyone is keeping an eye on ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline in February. Their first trade this season with the Toronto Raptors has yielded very positive results, as the team is 5-1 with OG Anunoby in their starting lineup.
While he has helped solidify that unit, the bench could use some work. To land Anunby, the Knicks sent Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett back to the Raptors, which has created a hole on their second unit.
Quickley has been the team’s backup point guard behind Jalen Brunson and a spark plug off the bench. Barrett was the starter who played the most minutes with the reserves, leaving a major void in Tom Thibodeau’s rotation.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein, New York Knicks Updates
While the Knicks have been able to overcome it to this point, they will need some reinforcements eventually. It has been nice to see Miles McBride and Quentin Grimes step up their performance with extended minutes, but a little more insurance would go a long way.
Luckily for New York, they have the assets to pull off multiple deals. Evan Fournier’s contract is a good starter in trade talks and they are loaded with draft capital. However, those aren’t the assets they are receiving calls on. According to NBA Trade Report on X, center Mitchell Robinson is who teams around the league are showing an interest in.
“Knicks have received calls on C Mitchell Robinson. New York has no interest in trading the former 2nd round pick. Robinson is expected to return to action before the end of the regular season.” as shared on X, formerly Twitter.
There was some uncertainty about Robinson’s availability for the remainder of the season after he was injured on December 8th against the Boston Celtics. The Knicks applied for an Injured Player Exception because there was a chance Robinson was not going to be able to return before June 15th.
Once the NBA and their doctor determined that was not the case, their request was denied. That gave the implication Robinson would be able to return at some point during the regular season, hence the interest from other teams around the league showing interest in him.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein, New York Knicks Updates
Robinson was off to the best start of his career as a dominating presence in the paint. He was controlling the offensive boards more efficiently than some teams on his own and was an intimidating force on defense.
Since he has been injured, Isaiah Hartenstein has stepped into his role and played at a very high level. While trading Robinson would make sense in some regard, as the Knicks’ production hasn’t fallen off too much without him, his return to the lineup would be a massive boost.
New York has struggled to find a player capable of providing productive minutes behind Hartenstein. Inserting Robinson into the rotation as a reserve would solve that problem. Imagine the suffocating defense with Robinson sharing the court with other elite defenders in Anunoby, McBride, Grimes, Josh Hart and Anunoby. That is a dream come true for the defensive-minded Thibodeau.
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