Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, who has been out for New York since undergoing mid-May surgery on his left ankle, is reportedly close to returning. He “is closing on his season debut,” ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Sunday.
“Mitchell Robinson is closing on his season debut, sources tell me,” Charania said on ABC’s NBA Countdown before the Knicks’ 1 p.m. game at the Boston Celtics. “His goal is to make his return to the lineup at some point over the next week. He’s had multiple full scrimmages over the last several days, and he’s going to have another session scheduled for early in the week. And then the Knicks, Robinson will make a determination on when that target date could be.
“This is someone that was a starting center for the Knicks last season. He’s expected to be an anchor for the Knicks’ defense alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, essentially finishing games together for the Knicks.”
SNY’s Ian Begley weighed in on Robinson’s timetable this past week.
“They’ve obviously taken things very cautiously and slowly with Mitchell Robinson,” Begley said on a new episode of Begley’s Mailbag. “So, if I was going to guess, I would guess early March is when he debuts and they bring him along very slowly. I would guess you maybe see him in 10-minute increments at first, let him get his legs back, let him get his conditioning back, in-game conditioning, and I think that’s where you’ll go.
“I don’t think they’re going to rush anything. I think it’ll be a process over several weeks with the hope he is ready to go for the first round of the playoffs. I’m not suggesting that he’s going to wait to come back until then, but what I’m saying is, he comes back in March, early March, and then gradually works his way up from a minutes perspective.”
Robinson, who turns 27 on April 1, averaged 5.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 24.8 minutes while starting 21 of 31 regular-season games across New York’s 2023-24 season.
“I’m going to just do whatever it takes to get there and I don’t have to have this happen again,” Robinson said earlier this month. “It is very frustrating, not getting out there to be able to do what you love to do for a living. It’s been hard. I’m maintaining, trying to stay focused best as I can.”
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