ACCORDING TO REPORT; KNICKS PLAYER REQUESTED A $85M EXCEPTION BY.

Mitchell Robinson of the Knicks is out for the season; according to a report, New York requests a $7.8 million exception.

Mitchell Robinson, a 7-foot big man, was initially expected to recover from ankle surgery in 8 to 10 weeks, according to the New York Knicks’ initial announcement. At the very least, eight weeks would land him in February for an evaluation; by March, he might be back for a postseason push.

Robinson is currently considered done for the season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who also reports that the Knicks have applied for a $7.8 million Disabled Player Exception. The Knicks had already suffered a great deal from the initial estimate, but at least they had the chance to get Robinson back eventually. That most likely won’t happen now.

Now that he’s gone, it will be interesting to watch if the Knicks’ top-ten offense loses its ability to compete in the postseason without Robinson’s offensive rebounding, which helps them overcome a challenging shooting schedule.

Before he was benched, Robinson, who the Knicks signed to a steal of a deal last summer (four years, $60 million), led the NBA in offensive rebounds per game with 5.3. According to Cleaning the Glass, he was grabbing more than 17% of New York’s misses while he was on the court. This is significant for the Knicks, whose team’s combined shooting percentage is ranked 23rd in the league.

The good news is that they have some time to work with Isaiah Hartenstein and Jericho Sims to resolve this. Until Sims returns (1-2 weeks, ankle), the latter will start at center, and they might look to trade for another big man.

In many respects, Hartenstein is a more potent offensive rebounder than Robinson and offers more offensive production. Andre Drummond could be a prospective trade target to consider as a potential substitute for Robinson. The 30-year-old Drummond is leading the league in games played while supporting the Bulls as a big man. At the moment, he averages 6.8 rebounds overall—2.9 of which are offensive—per game. He signed a two-year, $6.5 million contract with Chicago, which is now in its final year.

Robinson is a great rim protector who covers a starting perimeter that isn’t equipped to stop penetration, so the defense suffers greatly without him as well. Over a six-game stretch, the defense finished dead last, with Mitchell missing four of those games, starting with their In-Season Tournament loss to the Bucks. Robinson had a fantastic season the previous year and was putting in a strong case to be named to the All-Defense team this season.

Because of their toughness, I believe the Knicks will be able to overcome Robinson’s absence to some extent. With a 16-11 record, they have at least some cushion built up, but they have lost two out of every three games against teams that are above.500, while they have dominated teams that are below.500. According to Tankathon, Robinson’s absence will probably become more noticeable as the season progresses because of the ninth-toughest remaining schedule.