After inking a three-year, $47.4MM contract with the Celtics, former Knick and NBA champion Mitchell Robinson revealed the source of the hand injury that required surgery and seemed to impact his ability to catch the ball during the 2026 playoffs in a lengthy Facebook post.
“After our victory in Cleveland, everything seemed to be going well. We were celebrating our achievement, but for me, things took a turn for the worse,” Robinson wrote. “Upon returning to New York, I received an unexpected phone call, and my family members contacted me, informing me that my youngest brother had been involved in a car accident … I immediately went into panic mode. I began returning calls and texts, and when I FaceTimed my brother, I thought he was deceased. He was wearing a neck brace, unresponsive, and not speaking. I broke down in tears, feeling like a failure for not being able to protect my siblings. Being 910 miles away, I felt helpless. In a moment of frustration, I banged my hand on my truck.”
In the post, Robinson revealed that it had been a difficult season emotionally, saying that he was “dealing with personal issues, relationship problems, and internal struggles, which affected my performance on the basketball court.” He also spoke of not being able to spend as much time with his daughter as he had in the past, with the reason being, “because I needed to focus and lock in so she can have a better future than I did.”
Robinson was able to play through the injury, taking the court for every Knicks playoff game except Game 2 of the second round against the Sixers, which he missed due to illness.
He averaged 4.8 points and 5.5 rebounds in 13.9 minutes per game in the championship run. While the hand injury seemed to impact him at times, he was still able to grab one of the biggest offensive rebounds in Knicks history, climbing over Victor Wembanyama to grab the board off a missed free throw up three with 26.1 seconds left and kicking out to a teammate for more free throws and the chance to extend the lead.
Robinson alluded to dealing with personal issues throughout the season on social media, but this post was the first time he addressed them in specific terms.
