Knicks Aim to Profit $7.8 Million From Heartbreaking Mitchell Robinson Injury

While Mitchell Robinson was certainly not a headliner for the Knicks, his presence on the court has been much appreciated. December 8th was the fateful day when New York finally revealed that their veteran center has been facing ankle issues. Most recently, Robinson underwent ankle surgery and is projected to miss the remainder of the season.

Shams Charania’s latest post has revealed that the Knicks have applied for a Disabled Player Exception worth $7.8 million.

The prevalent injury, which came to light in their matchup against the Boston Celtics, had hoped to take 8-10 weeks off Robinson’s schedule. Unfortunately, it looks like it’ll be longer. But for the player exception to take effect, it has to be confirmed that Robinson will indeed miss the rest of the season. Charania further said that the NBA doctors will need to review the whole report before the league will finally make a decision.

While the $7.8 million is somewhat of a silver lining, the fact that a talented player will not be taking the floor any longer is a letdown.

How does the absence of Mitchell Robinson affect the Knicks?

The major aspect of Robinson’s absence that brings a void is the defensive impact. With him, their opponents averaged 108.7 points per game. But without him, it has gone up to 128.3 points. Another aspect is how much of a rebound struggle they have had.

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After a 22-point deficit loss to the Clippers on Saturday, RJ Barrett had a few words to say on their struggles. “I think right now you can see how much he cleans up for us. Just how much his presence — he cleans up the mistakes that we make. Just grabs all the rebounds. That’s a huge part of the defense,” he said. With Jericho Sims seeing more minutes on the floor in place of Mitch, Coach Thibodeau knows that it is not a sustainable solution.

Isaiah Hartenstein has been more of a constant presence. Hartenstein is coming off the bench averaging 6.4 rebounds, 6.1 points and 1.3 assists this season. Even so, it has become a hard-fought battle for the Knicks. As the Knicks Coach points out, “We’ve got to scratch out wins… Right now no one’s playing great defense. We’ve got to fix that as a group.” 

They surely do. Especially in the wake of such a breaking news as Mitchell Robinson’s season-long absence.

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