Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson not expected to be ready for start of season: source

NEW YORK — Mitchel Robinson is missing games, and the season hasn’t even started yet.

Robinson, the spry seven-foot center who endured a pair of stress fractures to his left ankle last season, is not expected to be available to start the season with the Knicks targeting a December-January return date, a league source confirmed to The New York Daily News on Monday.

Robinson’s unlikely status was first reported by FOX Sports.

The Knicks were already thin at the center spot after losing former backup big man Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Now, in a season riddled with championship dreams and aspirations, New York’s worst early-season nightmare has come true, a situation that compounds with the uncertainty surrounding Julius Randle, who has yet to fully recover from his season-ending shoulder surgery.

Behind Robinson on the depth chart at center are Randle, Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims — as well as OG Anunoby, who head coach Tom Thibodeau has suggested is capable of playing short spurts for the team at the five.

Robinson appeared in 31 games last season and missed the final six games of the Knicks’ second-round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers.

The dominant rebounding and rim-protecting big man averaged 8.5 rebounds, 5.6 points, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks last year.

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