Key Points
- Mitchell Robinson agreed to a three-year, $47.4 million deal with the Boston Celtics.
- The contract includes a player option in the third season.
- Robinson leaves the Knicks after eight seasons and their first title in 53 years.
- He ranked second in the NBA in offensive rebounds at 4.2 per game.
Free-agent center Mitchell Robinson has agreed to a three-year, $47.4 million deal with the Boston Celtics, with a player option in the third season, ESPN reported. Robinson leaves the New York Knicks after eight seasons and a role on the team that just won the franchise's first championship in 53 years.
What Boston Is Getting
Robinson is not a scorer — he is a rim protector and one of the best offensive rebounders in basketball. He ranked second in the NBA at 4.2 offensive rebounds per game this season and appeared in 60 games, his most since 2022-23, after years of managing chronic ankle and foot injuries, plus a pre-Finals hand injury he later revealed followed his brother's car crash. On a Knicks team that beat the Spurs in five games for the 2026 title, he was one of only two rotation players New York had originally drafted, a homegrown piece of a roster otherwise assembled by trade.
The Read
This is the second apron doing exactly what it was designed to do: pull a champion apart. New York held Robinson's Bird rights and could have matched or beaten Boston's offer, but keeping him meant crossing into the second apron — the punitive tax and roster-building tier that Knicks owner James Dolan has called "suicidal" and refused to enter. So a title team lets a top-two offensive rebounder walk for what is, by star-market standards, a modest number.
Boston is the natural buyer. Having spent last summer slashing its own payroll and tax bill from $540 million to $187.8 million, the Celtics had the flexibility to add a starting-caliber center at a role-player price. One team's apron discipline becomes another's bargain — and the champion gets a little easier to chase.
Source: ESPN
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