The defending champion Knicks lost Mitchell Robinson to the Celtics in free agency and signed Andre Drummond to fill his spot, but the two centers bring very different things to the floor.
The New York Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years last season, going 53-29 in the regular season before a 16-3 playoff run ended with a five-game Finals win over the San Antonio Spurs.
As they prepare to defend that title, one of the biggest changes is at backup center.
Robinson's Exit Leaves a Real Hole
Mitchell Robinson spent all eight of his NBA seasons with the Knicks and became a core part of the team's identity.
In 2025-26, Robinson averaged 5.7 points and 8.8 rebounds in 60 games while shooting 72.3 percent from the field, and his rim protection was a big piece of New York's title run.
Robinson recently talked about playing through a hand injury during the Finals, and that toughness is part of why the Knicks closed out the Spurs.
This offseason, though, he signed a three-year, $47.1 million deal with the Boston Celtics, leaving a frontcourt hole New York had to address.
What Drummond Actually Brings
To fill that spot, the Knicks signed Andre Drummond to a one-year, $3.9 million deal.
Drummond averaged 6.4 points and 8.4 rebounds in 63 games for the 76ers last season, and those numbers look similar to Robinson's on the surface, but the two players get there in different ways.
Robinson was a pure rim player who never attempted a three-pointer in his career and shot just 40.8 percent from the free throw line in 2025-26.
Teams used a "Hack-a-Mitch" strategy against him in the playoffs because of how badly he struggled at the line, and his lack of range was a real limit on how the Knicks could use him offensively.
Drummond brings a different look.
He's added a three-point shot over the past two seasons in Philadelphia, hitting 35.6 percent on 90 attempts in 2025-26 after only attempting 120 total threes across his first 12 years in the league.
He also shot 63.1 percent from the free throw line, well above Robinson's mark, meaning opponents can't just send him to the line as a strategy.
That kind of shooting gives New York some spacing off the bench that they never had with Robinson on the floor.
The Trade-Off
Drummond, now 32, doesn't bring the same rim protection or mobility that Robinson provided, and swapping a strong defensive center for a veteran on a near-minimum deal won't solve depth problems if Karl-Anthony Towns goes down.
But Drummond can still rebound at a high level, and his floor-spacing opens up driving lanes for Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart that didn't exist before.
The Knicks are running it back with the same core, and the threats to a repeat are real.
How Drummond holds up in Robinson's old role could be one of the bigger storylines of 2026-27.
