Farewell, Big Country

On June 21, 2018, I was with a friend at a Buffalo Wild Wings. It was a yearly tradition—we would eat wings and watch the NBA Draft. This draft was one that, in retrospect, was incredibly important to the Knicks. Future champions Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, and Landry Shamet were all taken in this draft—none of them by the Knicks. In the second round, the Knicks selected Mitchell Robinson, a player who has come to define the peaks and valleys of the Knicks experience in the last eight seasons.

After securing one of the most important offensive rebounds in Knicks franchise history, Robinson is departing the team. The Knicks, extremely limited by a desire to remain under the second apron, could not offer Robinson the money or expanded role he desired. As a result, Robinson signed a three-year, $47.4 million deal with the Boston Celtics. And just like that, a staple of the Knicks now becomes an adversary for another Eastern Conference team with title aspirations. Robinson is ultimately a triumph and an epitome of how far the Knicks have come, and a reminder of the challenges of continuity in today’s NBA.

Since 2000, Mitchell Robinson has been the most successful NBA player that the Knicks have drafted in the second round, with apologies to Trevor Ariza. He has appeared in the third-most games as a Knick (behind only Kurt Thomas and Carmelo Anthony) and leads the Knicks in offensive rebounds and blocks in that period. In Knicks history, he is third all-time in offensive rebounds, ninth in defensive rebounds, second in blocked shots, and first in field goal percentage.

Mitchell Robinson is a success story in player development. He went from an unknown commodity with questionable decision-making to one of the most unique weapons we’ve seen in the modern NBA. He is not a player who impacts games in a traditional sense, but rather as a possession optimizer, a player who gives his offense multiple cracks every possession with his rebounding ability. Since he entered the league, Robinson ranks third in the NBA in offensive rebounds per game behind Steven Adams and Clint Capela.

Throughout his time as a Knick, Robinson consistently ranked highly as a shot blocker and offensive rebounder. His block rate was in the 80th percentile or above in all but one season, and his offensive rebounding rate was in the 90th percentile or higher in all but one season.

Especially when the Knicks acquired Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota, Robinson provided the ultimate luxury: a rim-running rebounder who completely shifted the way that opponents had to gameplan for the Knicks. While that advantage was undeniable, his unique style also brought distinct vulnerabilities, never clearer than when teams resorted to 'Hack-a-Mitch' tactics, forcing the Knicks to consider taking him off the floor because of his woeful free-throw shooting.

Free throws were one of Robinson’s biggest and most visible drawbacks as a Knick. He consistently ranked as one of the worst free-throw shooters in the NBA. All-time, among players who have attempted at least 800 free throws, Robinson has the sixth-worst efficiency. On top of that, Robinson has struggled mightily with staying on the floor. He’s played in over 70 games once in his career, and from 2023-2025 he only played in 107 games. Robinson’s time as a Knick was often a rollercoaster, defined by adversity and immaturity but sprinkled with flashes of the type of qualities we love to see in a Knicks player.

More than anything, Robinson is a reminder of the path that this franchise took to get to where it is today. In Robinson’s rookie season, the team went 17-65 and had the worst record in the league. He was there when RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley were drafted; there when Tom Thibodeau and Julius Randle led the team back on the right track; there when they took a step back in 21-22; and there when the team finally vanquished their demons and ended a 53-year championship drought. He was a key part, through both participation and absence, of all of it. There was perhaps no player more relieved to win the title than he, because he had seen the highs and the lows.

In an Instagram post after the signing, Robinson echoed these sentiments. He called the last eight years “the highlight of my life” and even acknowledged the hurt that many fans feel about his departure by saying, “I know it’s a lot of emotions going around trust me I feel it myself, but I will always have love for where it all started.” Robinson was beloved in the locker room, but after the signing of Landry Shamet to an extension, it became clear that retaining him would be a challenge ,considering the second apron mandate from owner James Dolan.

Dolan has been very vocal about avoiding the second apron, likening it to “NBA front office suicide.” While it’s easy to say that Dolan was simply being cheap about paying more tax money (which is probably true), there are other reasons why a team would want to avoid the second apron. Teams hard-capped at the second apron don’t have access to the taxpayer midlevel exception, which is what the team used to sign Guerschon Yabusele last season—a signing that helped them trade for Jose Alvarado.

The second apron also includes restrictions on other cap mechanisms that the Knicks have utilized frequently in the Leon Rose era. These include not being able to use a trade exception generated by aggregating salaries of multiple players, no cash being used in trades (a Knicks favorite during the Draft), first-round picks seven years out are frozen, and a devalued pick if a team is in the second apron for three out of five years. These limitations are very real blockers to competing and hinder a team like the Knicks that has built its championship core largely through free agency and trade acquisitions.

How you feel about the Mitch departure will likely also mirror how you feel about the Knicks heading into the second apron. Those devastated by the news will likely argue (fairly) that going into the second apron to retain both Shamet and Mitch was the least you could do for a championship team and give them a chance to repeat. If you are more okay with the move, then it’s likely because the restrictions of the second apron likely feel too cumbersome to take on, which is why so many teams actively avoid it.

Like most things, the right answer is probably somewhere in the middle. Going into the apron for one more crack at a repeat title, similar to what the Celtics did the year after they won, makes a lot of sense. But so does maintaining financial and trade flexibility. It’s not the outcome any of us hope for, but this is the reality of the apron-world NBA. Players are lost and become cap casualties. A team like the Knicks that has done well to develop Robinson comes to a point where it is not feasible from a team-building perspective to keep him.

A cynic could look at the departure and note that Robinson has glaring issues with free throws and health, and that cost in sum makes it not worth sacrificing transactional flexibility. I’m not here to make that argument. This Knicks group has a lot of personalities that will be written about poetically in the decades to come. Mitchell Robinson is a crucial part of that story, an integral part of so much of the identity of this club.

In a league that is increasingly getting bigger and emphasizing size and rebounding, losing Mitchell Robinson hurts. And that loss is compounded by the fact that third-string center Ariel Hukporti has also departed, signing a one-year deal with Philadelphia. The calculation the Knicks have made here is that they believe in the capabilities of Leon Rose, Brock Aller, and others to identify a center on the margins and make it so that the drop-off isn’t as bad as many of us imagine it is.

As for Robinson, his legacy as a Knick is secured. We will have the visual of the offensive rebound that helped to seal a championship embedded in our memories for decades to come. He’s the rare example of a Knicks draft pick that worked out well for the Knicks in the 21st century. Him cashing in and getting a big payday while he still can (when factoring in his injuries) is also understandable. Behind him he leaves a void, and when the Celtics visit the Garden this coming season, he will be greeted by thunderous cheers—an appreciation for what he gave to this city and fan base. It’s said often about former players, but in Mitch’s case it will always be true: once a Knick, always a Knick. Farewell, Big Country.