The Sitch on Mitch: Tom Thibodeau Lays Out Knicks' Mitchell Robinson Return Plan

With Mitchell Robinson inching his way back, the New York Knicks plan to steadily integrate him back into the rotation.

The New York Knicks are literally getting some big help back.

As the team prepares for the final step of a four-game road trip, head coach Tom Thibodeau has confirmed that longtime starting center Mitchell Robinson is back on the practice floor. The session, documented by Steve Popper of Newsday, was hardly strenuous but did feature Robinson's first time on hardwood since sustaining an ankle injury that required surgery during a Dec. 8 loss to the Boston Celtics.

“Mitch was good,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said in Popper's report. “He practiced today. He’s got to go through contact for a while. So then he’s got to get cleared by the doctor. It wasn’t extended obviously. But he did shooting, offense, defense, script. Good day.”

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Robinson was originally believed to be out for the season but hope for his return emerged when the NBA denied the Knicks a disabled player exception that would've allowed the team to recover some of his salary for the 2023-24 season. 

The longest-tenured Knick will not be back in time for Thursday's game in Denver (9 p.m. ET, MSG) but a report from Brian Windhorst of ESPN hinted he could be back by the end of the month. Thibodeau offered a tentative timetable, starting with the obvious: Robinson won't immediately saddle his usual workload. Prior to his injury, Robinson was averaging a career-best 29.2 minutes a game in the latest reprisal of his role as the Knicks' primary center.

"He’s not going to play extended minutes when he comes back. He’s going to build up to that," Thibodeau said. "When a guy comes back off an extended injury or time where he’s been out, I think it takes a little bit of time to get that timing back. It probably makes more sense with shorter minutes to do it in that way. We’ll see how it unfolds.”

That's perfectly fine with Robinson, who said that he'd be more than comfortable coming off the bench in an Instagram post from a Knicks fan account earlier this month. Robinson's spot in the starting five has been serviceably filled by Isaiah Hartenstein and the Knicks' second unit would no doubt gain a sense of formidability with one of few traditional centers left in the league, working through a career-best season (averaging 10.3 rebounds before his departure), joining them in relief.

Those skills and more would be quickly welcomed back, even if Robinson's replacements (i.e. Hartenstein, Precious Achuiwa, Jericho Sims) have filled in the gaps handsomely since the holiday season.

New York Knicks' Mitchell Robinson Center of Heartwarming Story

“Toughness, obviously rebounding, finishing around the rim, blocking the rim, protecting the rim, they’re things he’s been great at his whole career," Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson said in Popper's report. "He brings that to the table and just gives us another element.”