The Knicks are open to signing Mitchell Robinson to a contract extension before the 2021/22 season begins, “as long as it’s not crazy,” a source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post. Robinson, who is one of the Knicks’ longest-tenured players, is entering a contract year and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2022 if he doesn’t sign a new deal before then.
As Berman notes, there are reasons both sides may want to wait on an extension. Robinson is coming off a season in which he suffered a broken hand and broken foot, so the Knicks might want to see him at full health again before making a major investment. The team’s multiyear commitment to Nerlens Noel in free agency also reduces the urgency to lock up Robinson.
Robinson, meanwhile, could significantly boost his stock in the coming months if he shows he’s back to 100% health and continues to improve on both ends of the court. For now, Berman says, league insiders consider the big man’s value to be around the mid-level or slightly higher. Berman suggests $44MM over four years could be a fair price for both sides.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- During his introductory press conference last week, Kemba Walker said he came “pretty close” to signing with the Knicks as a free agent in 2019 before heading to Boston instead. A source tells Berman that Walker had been interested in teaming up with Kevin Durant for the Knicks, but Durant – of course – chose to go to Brooklyn with Kyrie Irving instead. Berman says the Knicks and Walker decided at that point that a union wouldn’t make sense without another star on board.
- According to Berman, multiple sources believe the Knicks decided to add Dwayne Bacon to their roster due to a recommendation from his former coach Steve Clifford, who is close with Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. However, as Ian Begley of SNY.tv noted last week (via Twitter), Bacon is on an Exhibit 10 contract, so he’s no lock to make the regular season roster.
- In his ranking of all 30 teams’ offseason moves, David Aldridge of The Athletic places the Knicks at No. 13, praising the team’s signing of Walker but arguing that losing Reggie Bullock will hurt.
I was surprised that the Knicks choose to keep Burks over Bullock unless Bullock didn’t want to come back.
What Burks lacks on defense compared to Bullock he more than makes up with his ability to score. Bullock is a true 3 and D and is extremely limited offensively. Burks can do a lot of things offensively and even shot better from 3 than Bullock (41.5% vs 41.0%). Unless it’s on a team with multiple established superstars on the floor, I would take Burks every day over Bullock.
Burks I can justify. Letting Bullock walk at 3/30 then signing Noel to 3/32 is more perplexing. Again, unless it was just a case of Bullock wanting out.
But it seems if the cash was the same then RB would have been willing to stay.
Me too, considering we drafted Grimes. Bullock would of been nice depth behind Fournier. I think they were thinking on drafting 3-D wing. Didn’t happen. I still believe we are going to make a trade this yr.
Which of these talented former/current Knicks would you choose if you could have 1 of these guys on your team if you could have them for their whole career, Allan Houston, Michael Ray Richardson, RJ Barrett, Stephon Marbury or Anthony Mason?
Ray Richardson without the coke. He could of been next Magic. Wasted talent.
Sugar Ray was never gonna be Magic but he could have been similar to what Jason Kidd ended up being. Sorta ridiculous to say he wasted his talent too. He used his talent to make millions of $, he used his talent to make NBA all star teams. He obv could’ve been much greater if not for crack being such a powerfully addictive poison but he def still had a great NBA career
Yeah it’s what I thought you’d say. Your happy with some money. If I had his size and talent. I would of been best PG ever. That’s the difference. Even a guy like JR to me is wasted talent. When you do drugs over ball. It’s a waste. You root for the money. I’ll root for the talent. Ok
LMFAO… dude your self awareness is at a 0 smh. You spend 24hrs a day with yourself yet you still somehow think you’re better than other people??? Lol how do you not realize the fact that you’re an a-hole? Just take a step back and consider what type of person says something like, “if I had his size & talent I would have been the best of ever”… Lol I mean the word delusional is appropriate but not nearly strong enough to capture your mindset. If you had Sugar Ray’s life you probably would shot up a school or kys long before the NBA came into the picture… Obv it makes you feel good to think that you’re morally better than these NBA players. You’re definitely not lol. There’s clearly A LOT that u don’t understand about life in general and the NBA specifically
That’s enough, John. We all can’t be as enlightened as you are.
Thx.
-BHSF69
Mason
Kemba did what he could to get here. Reporters can dance around it, but the bottom line is he never had a Knick offer (stand alone). This was the Stooge FO, but it was the right position. Probably the only smart position they took that summer.
Yeah the coming home narrative frankly reads nicer at 2/18 than 4y vet max
So Robinson’s value is 4/44 and Noel’s is….3/32?
Frankly I can’t believe everything Berman writes. He’s the one who still writes about Knicks not getting FAs to come. Since Kyrie and KD turned them down. When they were never offered a contract. Cause Knicks weren’t ready to contend. The whole NBA knew they were going to Nets. Nets were ready, they had real talent.
Robinson has gained weight and muscle. Imo he’s swinging for the fences this. I expect a big yr for him. Knicks are good with their bigs, good depth.
Bacon I hope sticks it out. He can play in the G-league and stay ready. When Knicks make a move. They will need guys to step in. He’s a solid rotation guy to me.
Noel did miss out on that contract. Always said he should blame his agent. But I didn’t really know. He was really at fault. This could get messy.
I really hope we extend Mitch sooner than later. He has all-defensive potencial. His injuries dont scare me a lot, last season was bad luck. For 4/44?? Sign me up every day!
Robinson at 4/44… boy, oh boy… were to start!
That would be such an overpay, really overpay, just as bad as Williams in BOS, SMH!!!
In related news, Knicks are also said to be considering making another roster addition to pair with Dwayne:
CHRIS P BACON !!