The Celtics made a big free agency splash on Wednesday, signing center Mitchell Robinson to a three-year, $47 million contract. The former Knicks big man received the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, worth just over $15 million next season.
The eight-year veteran averaged 5.7 points, 8.8 rebounds (4.2 offensive), and 1.2 blocks in 19.6 minutes per game last season, addressing Boston’s biggest need heading into the offseason: the frontcourt.
The 28-year-old was arguably the best player available in an otherwise thin group of free-agent big men, but that doesn’t mean he arrives without questions.
The biggest question is his health.
Robinson played in just 31 games during the 2023-24 season and only 17 games during the 2024-25 season. Last season marked the first time since 2021-22 that he appeared in 60 games.
The Knicks managed Robinson’s workload carefully, keeping him out of back-to-backs. He has played fewer than 20 minutes per game in each of the last two seasons and has only averaged more than 25 minutes per game three times in his career, topping out at 27.5 minutes over 31 games during the 2020-21 season.
Since entering the league, Robinson has appeared in 397 of the 630 regular-season games New York has played, missing more than 37% of them.
The good news: He has been available when it has mattered most in recent seasons.
Robinson has played in 53 of New York’s 66 playoff games during his tenure and has missed just one game over the last two postseasons. He missed Game 2 of the Knicks’ Eastern Conference semifinals sweep of the 76ers due to illness, and dealt with a broken right pinkie finger before the NBA Finals, but it did not force him to miss time.
He played a key role in helping New York reach the Conference Finals in 2025 and snap its 53-year title drought.
The other major question mark is his shooting, specifically at the free-throw line.
Robinson shot 40.8% (42-of-103) from the free-throw line last season, becoming one of just nine players since the turn of the century to shoot below 41% from the line in a season with at least 100 attempts.
In the playoffs, he shot 29.3% (17-of-58), the second-worst mark in a single postseason in NBA history among players with at least 55 attempts, ahead of only Ben Wallace’s 27.3% mark in 2005-06.
For his career, Robinson is a 50.8% free-throw shooter.
We’ve seen teams, including Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics, deploy the hack-a-Mitch strategy and intentionally foul Robinson to send him to the line.
“He’s good on both ends of the floor,” Mazzulla said when asked about Robinson’s impact and the intentional fouling during their 2025 playoff series. “He’s a huge factor to what they do, and we’ve got to find ways to negate that.”
"He's a huge factor to what they do and we've got to find ways to negate that"
Joe Mazzulla on Mitchell Robinson: pic.twitter.com/cNNbHaDPGy
— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 8, 2025
Robinson has flaws. But the things he does well, he does at an elite level.
The 7-foot, 240-pound center is one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA. He was one of only five players to grab at least 250 offensive rebounds last season (252), alongside Donovan Clingan, Rudy Gobert, Moussa Diabate, and Jalen Duren.
His 20.1% offensive rebounding percentage led the NBA.
His 4.2 offensive rebounds per game were second behind Clingan’s 4.5 among players with at least 40 games played.
Robinson led the NBA in total rebounds per 36 minutes (16.1), offensive rebounds per 36 minutes (7.7), total rebounds per 100 possessions (22.2), and total offensive rebounds per 100 possessions (10.6).
Offensive rebounding was a key part of the Celtics’ identity last season.
Now, they add one of the best players in the league at generating those second chances.
Robinson also addresses a key area the Celtics were looking to improve: putting pressure on the rim.
Despite his shooting limitations and never attempting a three-pointer in his NBA career, Robinson shot 72.3% (149-of-206) from the field this season, third among players with at least 200 shot attempts.
That’s because 51.5% of his field-goal attempts came on dunks (97 total), with his average shot distance coming one foot from the rim, the closest mark of any player in the NBA. A league-high 92.2% of his shot attempts came from 0-3 feet from the rim.
That is a welcome addition for a Celtics team that finished second-to-last in dunks (255) and generated just 16.1% of their shots from 0-3 feet, a league low.
With his ability to dominate the glass, provide an elite pick-and-roll presence (1.70 points per possession, 86.0% score frequency), and create advantages with his screening ability, Robinson is an ideal fit for what Boston was looking for.
Defensively, he is an elite rim protector (70 blocks in 60 games) with his length and athleticism allowing him to be impactful on the perimeter, as well. Opponents shot just 44.2% when defended by Robinson, -4.5% below their expected output.
There is certainly some risk involved in this signing, but it’s a risk worth taking.
Robinson fills an obvious position of need, fits the Celtics’ style, and directly addresses areas they were looking to improve.
There is also the added benefit of weakening a rival and one of the teams Boston expects to compete with in the Eastern Conference.
