Could the Chicago Bulls convince the New York Knicks to part with center Mitchell Robinson III? In the eyes of Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale, it is certainly a trade target that the Bulls ought to at least try to pry loose from the Knicks. “Chicago has good size up front with Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond, but there’s hardly any bounce between the two bigs,” writes the B/R analyst.
“An aggressive deal for … Robinson, who’s perhaps been made expendable by the rise of Isaiah Hartenstein, would change that in an instant. Robinson possesses the kind of hops you almost never see in a 7-footer, and he routinely puts it to good use as a shot-blocker, glass-cleaner and above-the-rim finisher.”
“He’s had his share of injury issues, though, and the … Knicks could conceivably be willing to let him go if they plan on paying what it takes to bring Hartenstein back as an unrestricted free agent.”
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“A straight-up swap with Vucevic for Robinson wouldn’t do much for the ‘Bockers, but a three-team deal that sends Vucevic elsewhere and delivers assets to New York (probably including at least one first-round pick from Chicago) could work,” he adds.
We are skeptical that the Bulls have a player that would interest New York enough to make sense, but the framework proposed by Favale might just be what it would take to pry the defensive big man loose.
