Knicks desperately need to find replacement for injured starting center

The New York Knicks received brutal injury news Monday afternoon, as their starting center Mitchell Robinson will not be ready for the start of the season and is targeting a return in December or January, NBA insider Yaron Weitzman reports.

Knicks will be without Mitchell Robinson for a few months

The news is a massive blow to the Knicks, as they are already lacking depth at the center position even with Robinson. Now that he will be unavailable for longer than initially anticipated following offseason ankle surgery, New York will have to scramble to figure out their rotations until Robinson is cleared to return.

Robinson missed 51 games last season after undergoing ankle surgery in early December. He would return briefly for the postseason before re-aggravating the injury during the playoffs, which would require a second surgery that he is still rehabbing from.

The Knicks may have a different starting five to start the season

Head coach Tom Thibodeau said last week that Julius Randle could see playing time at the center position given the lack of depth they already had. All of a sudden, the All-Star may become the team’s starting center for the foreseeable future, which could mean a lineup change that sees either Donte DiVincenzo or Josh Hart return to the starting five could be in order.

As of now, the only centers on the Knicks’ roster are Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims. With this injury news to Robinson, those two guys could find themselves receiving a fair amount of playing time at the start of the season as backups, giving them both an opportunity to earn a rotation spot long-term.

The Knicks need to address the center position with more urgency

Of course, this crushing blow now makes the Knicks’ needs at center more urgent. They were already rumored to have interest in a few centers, most notably Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz and Nick Richards of the Charlotte Hornets, but expect negotiations with available centers to heat up now that they will be without their starting center for some time.

How the Knicks plan to address the center position going forward is unclear, but losing their only true center in Robinson for a significant amount of time is a crushing blow to a team with title aspirations. Opening Night is Oct. 22 against the Boston Celtics. The best-case scenario is that Robinson can return to the court before the end of December, as they will badly need him down the stretch of the season.