The New York Knicks let one of their most important players walk to avoid having to pay the tax that comes with the second apron.
Coming off the 2026 NBA championship win, many hoped that the New York Knicks would retain their players and attempt to run it back.
However, James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks, didn’t allow that to happen, as it would have meant that he would be responsible for paying the tax that comes with the second apron.
New York Knicks let Mitchell Robinson go to avoid second apron penalties
Speaking on the Bill Simmons show, Zach Lowe revealed that he had spoken to several agents in the NBA who told him that the new salary cap rules and the second apron is being treated like a hard cap.
He added that this is the reason Knicks owner James Dolan let Mitchell Robinson walk and signed Andre Drummond, an inferior player, to a smaller, team-friendly contract.
“I have had a couple of agents just venting to me in the last couple of weeks that call the second apron what it is, teams are treating it as more or less a hard cap.
“They’re going to continue treating it like what James Dolan did and letting Mitchell Robinson go and replacing him with an inferior version in Andre Drummond. A championship team was willingly doing that.
“The Mitchell Robinson minutes are better than the Andre Drummond minutes are going to be. You’re going to feel it. Andre Drummond is almost as good an offensive rebounder, but not quite.
“Defensively, it is a huge downgrade. The corner three is kind of interesting. I am curious to see if Mike Brown leans into what Nick Nurse did…”
James Dolan has always been one of the NBA’s most frugal owners
While the second apron has proven to be a great deterrent for teams in terms of limiting their spending power, Andre Drummond’s arrival can’t entirely be attributed to it.
For years, James Dolan earned a negative reputation among NBA circles for being one of the cheapest and most frugal owners, not willing to spend the money needed to win a championship.
While Mitchell Robinson did earn a pay rise with his move to the Celtics, he is still only making $15 million a year with the Boston Celtics.
The Knicks could have accepted the cap hit for at least one year and given Robinson what he wanted to try and run it back for a championship.
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