NBA drops $25K hammer on Knicks for deceiving injury report

The NBA has blasted the Knicks with a $25,000 fine for failing to accurately report the injury status of Mitchell Robinson before their game against the Toronto Raptors on March 27, the league announced on Monday, April 8.

The Knicks initially listed Country Boy Mitch as out in their injury report. Robinson, however, ended up playing in the game with the Knicks rushing a change of their listing moving his status to questionable with little time before tip-off.

Robinson returned to the hardwood that day after missing 50 games following a left ankle injury suffered in early December.

The Knicks must not have paid that much attention to how the Association handled a similar mistake made by foes Philadelphia 76ers as the L handed a hefty $100,000 fine for not properly disclosing Joel Embiid’s status following his comeback from knee surgery a few weeks ago.

In the game against Toronto, Robinson logged 12 minutes of playing time as the Knicks coasted to a monster 145-101 victory. Since his return, Robinson has played in six out of seven games as he keeps ramping up ahead of the playoffs scheduled to start in a couple of weeks.

Since coming back, Mitch has averaged 3.8 points in 14.6 minutes per game in six contests, all of them played off the pine backing up Isaiah Hartenstein.

Robinson is also posting up averages of 5.5 rebounds, 0.5 dimes, and exactly one block a pop. The numbers are down from his early-season figures, though he’s just played an hour and a half of basketball since he first returned so this shouldn’t be very alarming.

Mitched talked to reporters after the Knicks' win over Milwaukee last Sunday, saying “the defense is coming back faster” than his offensive production, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.

“I really don’t know [if I’ll be back to where I was for the playoffs],” Robinson said. “I’m just taking it day by day so once I get it all figured it out, it’ll be all right.”