Report: Knicks Likely Losing Big Man; Should Sixers Be Interested?

According to Stefan Bondy, the New York Knicks will likely lose a key member of their title team because James Dolan doesn't want to pay into the second apron to run back a championship team.

Jun 10, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) jumps to catch a pass and dunk the ball against San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during game four of the 2026 NBA Finals in the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

You can give the historically bad owner a championship, but you can't change the nature that makes the owner who he is.

According to Stefan Bondy, the New York Knicks will likely lose a key member of their title team because James Dolan doesn't want to pay into the second apron to run back a championship team:

Heard it’s unlikely Mitchell Robinson will be back with Knicks next season. He’s longest tenured Knick but also an unrestricted free agent. Owner James Dolan said he’s unwilling to pay into second apron so running it back with bench is not feasible.

— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) June 26, 2026

The loss, alone, would make New York a weaker team. But unlike with most reserves, it would weaken them as both a regular-season squad and a playoff contender.

Even by the deepest depths of the 2026 playoffs, the Knicks trusted Robinson for his regular minute load in their rotation. That, alone, makes him something of a tantalizing option for the Sixers, who have constantly had to toggle between bigs behind Joel Embiid in the most important parts of the season because their regular backup bigs have their own warts that make them difficult to trust.

Put the playoff credibility in your back pocket for a moment.

His skills are precisely what the Sixers need out of any big man, regardless of whether they're soaking up minutes behind Embiid or starting in his stead.

His offensive rebounding rate on missed field goals has ranked on the mid-to-high 90s percentile for bigs in each of the last five seasons, per Cleaning The Glass (CTG). Robinson is also an excellent shot-blocker on the other end of the floor despite a defensive rebounding rate that has mostly been pedestrian or worse throughout his career.

Even if you'd like better defensive rebounding, you'll accept having to do some gang-rebounding if the guy in the middle is a high-level swatter at the rim. You'll also accept it if the specialty is amassing the rebounds coming off his own teammates' misses.

Let's game this out. Sure, Robinson poses absolutely no threat to score outside of the restricted area. That would invite a blitz on any of the Sixers' pick-and-roll ballhandlers. But Robinson has above-the-rim athleticism and is an adept finisher at the rim. He can serve as a vertical spacer, challenging teams to make defensive rotations on the back side of the floor to avoid giving up dunks.

Robinson will strain your pick-and-roll coverage if you blitz and he'll dive behind the big to make himself available for lobs if you play it straight up.

But he won't command touches, allowing the Sixers' most potent offensive players to control possessions without having to worry about having to appease the new guy.

So why would anyone object to the Sixers throwing every dollar they have in an effort to lure a great fit away from a rival?

The 60 regular-season games Robinson played in 2025-26 represent the most games he's played since he logged 59 in the 2022-23 season. He's injury prone, albeit perhaps not to the devestating degree that Embiid historically has been.

That would be one thing if he wasn't going to command a significant chunk of salary.

While many have Robinson ranked outside of the top 25 free agents in this class, he earned $12.9 million this past season.

It would be stunning if a 28-year-old profiling as one of the four or five best centers on the market had to take less money on his next deal. So, the question for Philadelphia has to be whether the Sixers would feel comfortable shelling out something in the ballpark of the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception for just one player, and that one player being responsible for backing up their most impactful and oft-injured player, and that one player, himself, being a sizable injury risk.

Mike Gansey told reporters on Tuesday that the Sixers have needs to fill at every position. That suggests the Sixers won't be all that interested in dulling out big money to any one free agent, especially if they'll be hard-capping themselves at the first apron to make it happen.

It's unfortunate because Robinson is almost a perfect fit behind Embiid, but the "almost" in that is no small concern.

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