{"id":2026023,"date":"2026-07-03T22:50:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T19:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2026023"},"modified":"2026-07-03T22:50:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T19:50:05","slug":"knicks-to-sign-veteran-andre-drummond-to-replace-mitchell-robinson-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2026023","title":{"rendered":"Knicks to sign veteran Andre Drummond to replace Mitchell Robinson: Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The New York Knicks have agreed to sign veteran center Andre Drummond to a one-year contract for the veteran\u2019s minimum of $3.9 million, according to league sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been completed.<\/p>\n

The defending champions desperately needed a backup center, with owner James Dolan not wanting the team\u2019s payroll to exceed the second apron threshold of just under $222 million. That mandate consequently led to the Knicks losing Mitchell Robinson to the rival Boston Celtics<\/a> in free agency.<\/p>\n

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Knicks coach Mike Brown reached out to Drummond as part of the team\u2019s recruiting process. It was an easy sell for Drummond, who is from Connecticut and, at 32, loved the idea of coming back to his old \u201cneighborhood\u201d to continue his career.<\/p>\n

Drummond is a well-traveled veteran who has played for six teams over the last seven seasons. Known as the Big Penguin, he provides the size, veteran experience and rebounding the Knicks were seeking with Robinson gone.<\/p>\n

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Drummond averaged 6.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game with the Philadelphia 76ers last season. His career rebound percentage of 24.98 is actually the highest in NBA history. He is also known as a positive presence in the locker room.<\/p>\n

The Knicks are now roughly $5 million below the second apron and will fill out their roster with two more veteran minimum players, one of whom will likely be a return of Jordan Clarkson.<\/p>\n

A like-for-like replacement<\/h2>\n

Drummond will try to fill the shoes of Robinson in more ways than one. Yes, he is now the replacement at center for Robinson, who was arguably the league\u2019s best backup five this past season. But he\u2019s also set to fill a similar role.<\/p>\n

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The Knicks thrived last season, in part, because they could attack the offensive glass for all 48 minutes. Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart are an elite offensive-rebounding combination. They crashed creatively, along with Mikal Bridges, who used never-ending arms to snag a long rebound here or there. And behind them was the monster, Robinson, who recovered 23 percent of the Knicks\u2019 misses when he was on the court. If he had played enough minutes in 2025-26 to qualify among the league leaders, Robinson would have shattered Dennis Rodman\u2019s single-season record for offensive rebound rate.<\/p>\n

No one can reach Robinson\u2019s level, but Drummond is one of the few who can come close. He\u2019s led the league in offensive rebound rate four times. And while he doesn\u2019t move like he did in his 20s, he can still engulf other teams down low.<\/p>\n

The Knicks obsess over the possession game. They limit turnovers, and they pummel whoever is in front of them on the offensive glass. Drummond will fit into that piece of them well.\u00a0\u2014 Fred Katz, NBA staff writer<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks have agreed to sign veteran center Andre Drummond to a one-year contract for the veteran\u2019s minimum of $3.9 million, according to league sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been completed. The defending champions desperately needed a backup center, with owner James Dolan not wanting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2026023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2026023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2026023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2026023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2026023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}