The Oklahoma City Thunder have been linked to New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson in a recent report on Monday by Newsday’s Steve Popper.
“An unrestricted free agent at season’s end, he has hesitated to sign an extension before free agency starts and figures to have suitors among the Pistons, the Thunder and, if they can work the cap space, the Mavericks.”
Robinson is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Robinson was drafted 36th overall in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft. A draft pick that the Knicks ironically attained in the Carmelo Anthony trade that sent him to Oklahoma City.
Robinson has averaged 8.4 points on 76.9 percent shooting and 8.7 rebounds in 62 games this season. The 23-year-old has a career average of two blocks per game.
Signing Robinson would fit a need for the Thunder as a starting center is one of the positions the team needs to fill during this rebuild. Robinson is also young enough to fit the timeline of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey.
But with all that said, this is likely a ploy from Robinson’s agent to uptick his market value as he uses teams with a ton of cap space like the Thunder as a potential suitor. The Thunder will likely not spend big this offseason and will look into adding talent to its roster via the draft and trades where the other team needs to dump a salary.