Knicks' Mitchell Robinson Opens Up About Injury Return

Patience is a virtue, even for lasting New York Knicks stars like Mitchell Robinson.

At six seasons, the 7-0 center is the longest-tenured New Yorker on the current Knicks roster. Starting his seventh, however, has been a struggle, as he continues to work off ankle issues that shortened his 2023-24 campaign.

Buried in an ongoing rehab process, Robinson finally spoke publicly on Tuesday before the Knicks battled the Indiana Pacers. Per James Edwards III of The Athletic, Robinson said that the supposed delay behind his re-entry is not due to any medical setback but because he'd only like to do this once.

“I’m just taking it day by day the best that I can, just trying to get to 100 percent," Robinson said in Edwards' report. "That’s my main goal. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get there so that it doesn’t happen again."

Robinson certainly knows what it's like to have his year interrupted by medical woes: he was on pace for career-bests in scoring and defense before injuring his ankle in early December 2023.

He was able to return in time for the Knicks' postseason run despite losing his long-standing starting job to Isaiah Hartenstein but missed the ending due to further ankle woes that resurfaced after a hard-fought battle with Philadelphia 76ers agitator Joel Embiid. This time around, he'd prefer to get a little streak going.

“I ain’t trying to keep having these sitouts and setbacks and stuff like that,” Robinson remarked, per Edwards. “This time I’m just going to play it smart. Usually, I’d be young and dumb to go out there and try to get back as fast as I can. I can’t do that no more.”

The Knicks (35-18) offered a silent vote of confidence in Robinson during last week's transactional activites—or lack thereof—leading up to Thursday's trade deadline. While Robinson might've been the Knicks' most covetable veteran commodity, management kept him aboard and cut ties with Jericho Sims instead.

The plan more or less centers (pun intended) on the idea that Robinson is meant to be the team's prime deadline acquisition and he's ready to fulfill that role—but only when the time is right.

“I’m just going to continue to do what I do best which is get offensive rebounds, block shots and defend,” Robinson said, per Edwards. “I can’t wait to see how it goes.”

Robinson and Knicks fans will have to have a little more patience, as it's highly unlikely that he played in the team's final pre-All-Star Game contest against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

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