Mitchell Robinson is putting on a free-agent audition right now in the playoffs. The New York Knicks' offensive rebounding machine (and willing instigator) is surprisingly healthy for once and thriving as a bench big for New York thus far in its first-round battle against the Atlanta Hawks. But this doesn't mean that the Los Angeles Lakers should consider signing Robinson this summer. In fact, let's be a little clearer: Rob Pelinka should absolutely avoid Robinson under any and all circumstances.
The Lakers took a chance on Deandre Ayton last offseason and weren't rewarded. They also might be stuck with Ayton opting into his player option, which would likely force Pelinka into looking for anyone at all on the trade market interested in Deandre's services. The point being, LA cannot afford to mess up another center signing this coming offseason. Robinson is always hurt. Between 2022 and 2025, he averaged less than 36 games played per regular season.
Mitchell Robinson is not someone the Lakers should consider signing
The Lakers must aim higher than Robinson as they look to fix the center position moving forward. Even as a backup big option, Robinson ends up just eating salary and taking up a roster spot when he gets hurt every other week. Don't be fooled by his 60 games played this season. That was an outlier. He appeared in 17 games in 2024-25 and 31 games the year prior. That's more like normal business hours for Robinson.
Knicks fans love Robinson because they've been conditioned to feel that anything and everything he provides is just unexpected icing on the cake. They already have Karl-Anthony Towns playing 30-plus minutes a night, and Robinson is basically the friend who rarely replies to your party invite but always brings beer when he shows up now and then. He's always a treat when he's around, but he's MIA most of the time, and everyone's come to accept it as normal.
The Lakers badly need improved center play, so adding a guy who plays less than half of your games wouldn't be normalized at all by Lakers fans -- it would turn into a full-blown disaster immediately. If the Lakers want to pick up Robinson a few years down the line as an end-of-the-bench guy on the minimum, so be it. But now is not the time to invest in Robinson. And we haven't even discussed his horrifying free-throw shooting.
Any success Mitchell Robinson has in playoffs shouldn't sway Lakers
Robinson knows that his free agent value stands to gain some juice if he delivers this postseason. He's going to do everything in his power to stay on the floor and be the rebounding beast that he is. But even if Robinson has a 20-20 game at some point and changes the entire outlook of a series for the Knicks, the Lakers should not be moved. Stay strong, Pelinka! It's merely a trap.
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