A Mitch Miracle?

Mitchell Robinson may not be out for the season after all.

Good morning! We got some BIG news yesterday which I’ll get to in a bit, plus take a few more of your questions in this week’s mailbag. First though, the Knicks catch a break ahead of tonight’s visit to Dallas…

Game Night

TONIGHT: Knicks at Mavs, 8:30 pm, MSG Network

Injury Report: The big news is that Luka Doncic is OUT with a right ankle sprain. In addition to Doncic, Donte Exum will also miss the game, while rookie center Dereck Lively II and backup big Maxi Kleber are both doubtful. Grant Williams is questionable.

Halftime Zoom: Here’s the link for tonight.

What to watch for: This road trip obviously got a lot more manageable, first with news of Ja Morant’s season ending shoulder injury, and now Doncic being out. Needless to say though, the Knicks cannot take either game lightly. Dallas is just 1-3 without Luka this season, but they won their most recent game without him, beating the Blazers by 36. Kyrie Irving has as good a track record of success against the Knicks as any player in the league, so shutting him down will be a top priority.

News & Notes

Well look who might be back sooner than expected…

After the Woj bomb, all of the local beat writers dispatched the same missive, which is that the Knicks are internally optimistic about Robinson’s chances of rejoining the team before the end of the season. As a reminder, he is scheduled to be re-evaluated sometime in February.

The other point that made the rounds was that the front office had everything to gain and nothing to lose by applying for the DPE, so perhaps we all jumped the gun in thinking that Mitch would miss the rest of the season to begin with. At the same time, teams don’t typically apply for a DPE unless there is real doubt about a player’s ability to return, so this whole thing does ring a tad strange.

Regardless, it’s welcome news on a number of fronts, although it does leave us with several questions. In no particular order: