NBA Rumors: New York Knicks will start season short-handed due to huge injury

NBA Rumors: The New York Knicks will be forced to start the season without the heart and soul of their defense due to an injury.

The New York Knicks are heading into the 2024-25 NBA season as one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. After making one of the bigger splash moves of the offseason, in which they acquired Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets, the Knicks are in a position to compete with any team in the league from a talent perspective. The big question for the Knicks this season won't revolve around whether they have enough top-tier talent. Instead, the Knicks' championship chances will come down to whether they have enough depth to keep pace with the other contenders.

One of the bigger concerns for the team has to be at the center position. After losing Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency, the Knicks are extremely thin at the position. To add more concerns heading into the start of the season, it was recently reported that New York will begin the season without a healthy Mitchell Robinson.

Robinson, who played such a vital role in the team's first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers a year ago and who was penciled in as the starter at center, is expected to miss the first two months of the season (at least) as he continues to recover from an injury he suffered a foot in the playoffs.

How will the New York Knicks fill the void of Mitchell Robinson?

This is not encouraging news for a team that was already ultra-thin at the center position. This now means that the Knicks will be forced to start Precious Achiuwa, Jericho Sims, or play small with Julius Randle at the center position. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if any of those options are ideal for the Knicks.

If a trade is not on the table for the team, which doesn't appear to be the case for now, it will be interesting to see how the Knicks attempt to handle the huge void at the center position.

To be quite honest, the Knicks may not have the answer to those questions just yet. And they don't have to have them yet. That's perhaps what they may have to work through when training camp begins.

But this is far from an ideal start for the Knicks heading into the start of the season. Even though this is not all that surprising considering Mitchell's injury history, this is a huge blow toward any early-season momentum for the new-look Knicks.