The New York Knicks exited the 2026 NBA Draft with two new players on their roster, both of them second-rounders, after being clearly focused on preserving financial flexibility throughout the two-day neophyte-filled event.
After a series of first-round trades helped New York move the hell out of signing prospects to any sort of guaranteed contract, the front office created additional breathing room under the league’s second apron and ended up with a plethora of future second-round picks as well as two
nice kids: Vanderbilt forward and no-nonsense three-point flamer Tyler Nickel, and German guard and no-way-I’m-going-back Jack Kayil.
Even with the added flexibility, keeping the championship core—outside of the starters—intact remains a difficult equation.
The challenge is related to the upcoming unrestricted free agencies of center Mitchell Robinson and guards Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson.
SNY’s Ian Begley reported on Tuesday that Robinson is expected to generate significant interest across the NBA, including from teams that could offer him a larger role on top of just more money.
“I heard earlier in the postseason that there were numerous suitors, and there was at least one team back then that was prepared to offer Mitchell Robinson a starting spot. To me, that’s significant because he knows he’s not starting in New York as long as Karl-Anthony Towns is here. So if that’s a factor for him, that’s something that I’m keeping an eye on.”
Shortly after making those comments, Begley pointed to the Sacramento Kings as a logical landing spot.
“I don’t have specific info, I mean, I have heard the same whispers about the Lakers, but just based on their need at center and their situation financially. Sacramento, if they didn’t have a player at the position that they loved, I think they’d be all over Mitchell Robinson. They’re always a team that I link to Robinson.”
The connection goes beyond roster fit, with that perhaps being the least appealing thing for Mitch as things stand. The Kings have Domantas Sabonis starting at center and drafted Maxime Raynaud last year. Sabonis could slide down to the power forward position to make room for Robinson at center, but it feels like a lateral move and a similar situation to the one Mitch faced in New York with KAT and his playing at the five and not the four.
However, Sacramento’s No. 1 asset in convincing Robinson to bolt out of Manhattan might be their general manager, Scott Perry, who drafted Robinson in 2018 while still with the Knicks and is a strong supporter of the country boy.
Back in mid-May, the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy already reported the possibility of the Kings entering the Robinson sweepstakes, noting that league sources view Sacramento as a legitimate threat to sign Robinson away from New York in free agency.
“Sources around the league have pegged the Sacramento Kings as a threat to pry away Robinson in free agency. Scott Perry, the GM of the Kings, has long been a fan of Robinson after drafting him the 2018 second round as a member of New York’s front office. It was probably Perry’s best move in a tenure of blunders before (Leon) Rose arrived. Perry’s Kings have no cap space but could maneuver the roster to open a competitive offer for Robinson, who has mostly been underpaid throughout his career ($67 million in career earnings over eight seasons).”
Regarding the cap space issues, the Kings are already trying to solve those by trading (not happening) or waiving and stretching veteran DeMar DeRozan’s $25.74 salary. Not to mention, Sabonis is always on the rumor mill, and there are already whispers about a possible trade.
A week ago, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that the Knicks had already begun “some level of cursory negotiations” with Robinson’s camp.
That said, New York will have it tough, if not outright impossible, to navigate free agency while remaining under the second apron if they want to retain every single piece of their title-winning team. The math simply doesn’t work, and it’s looking like the Knicks will need to choose between re-signing Robinson alone or bringing back a combination of Shamet/Clarkson and Jose Alvarado, whose $4.5 player option is due to be activated or rejected on Friday.
Robinson, who remained healthy through the regular season playing under a heavy load-managed plan, was key in the team’s championship run, albeit his postseason impact was diminished because of multiple factors. Even then, he will easily command a raise from the roughly $13 million he earned last season, particularly if another team offers a starting role, which would already be incentivizing enough for Mitch to open a new career chapter.
Shamet, meanwhile, has rebuilt his value massively in New York, and there is no way he doesn’t get a deal twice or thrice as expensive as his $3 million current contract. The same goes for Clarkson, who might get another vet min or perhaps finds someone out there willing to raise that bar a bit to convince him to leave NYC.
As free agency approaches July 1, the Knicks appear increasingly unlikely to retain everybody, and perhaps that’s why they started the draft by sending picks packing in a hurry… but ultimately ended up grabbing a couple of warm bodies to fill the end of the bench, even if they don’t sniff the court any time soon.
