The New York Knicks are not taking any chances with center Mitchell Robinson this season. Over the past few seasons, injuries have limited his on-court availability, and his absence has tremendously hurt the Knicks.
Knicks will manage Mitchell Robinson’s workload this season
To combat that, the Knicks plan on taking a cautious approach to keep his health in check. According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the Knicks plan on managing his minutes and will hold him out of some games this season as a precaution.
“Knicks center Mitchell Robinson did not practice today as part of team’s plan to manage his workload. Heading into regular season, team plans to manage Robinson’s minutes over course of year given his injury history, sources told SNY. Robinson had been starting alongside Karl-Anthony Towns in NYK’s preseason. He was held out last game and held out of the second half of NYK’s previous preseason game. Based on NYK plan, Robinson will be held out of some games out of precaution, per sources,” Begley posted on X.
Robinson is a key part of what the Knicks are building, as he is the team’s best defensive presence on the interior. His offensive rebounding prowess is also essential to their offense.
The Knicks will need Robinson for the playoffs
His true impact showed during the last postseason, when he was able to stay healthy throughout the playoffs after missing the first 58 games of the regular season while recovering from ankle surgery. In the playoffs, Robinson was one of the team’s most impactful players, and he was a key contributor to their run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
In three of the four preseason games so far, Robinson has started alongside Karl-Anthony Towns in the frontcourt. That could indicate that head coach Mike Brown plans to start Robinson and keep Josh Hart in a bench role, similar to what Tom Thibodeau did during the Eastern Conference Finals last year.
It is unclear exactly how the Knicks plan on managing his workload, but he will likely not play in back-to-backs and could rest more on long road trips. Nevertheless, preserving his health is more important, as they will need him at full strength in the postseason if they envision making a deep run at a title this year.