Mitchell Robinson's finger surgery raises Knicks questions ahead of NBA Finals

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on May 29, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — Backup Knicks center Mitchell Robinson did not break his right pinky finger during practice at the team’s Tarrytown training facility on Thursday. And he didn’t suffer the injury during the Knicks’ Eastern Conference finals-clinching victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, either.

Which means, according to head coach Mike Brown, who remained tight-lipped regarding the circumstances surrounding Robinson’s injury after practice on Friday, the incident likely occurred sometime Tuesday or Wednesday.

Brown confirmed reports Robinson underwent successful surgery to repair the broken pinky but offered no indication regarding the defensive anchor’s availability for the 2026 NBA Finals, which begin June 3 against the winner of Saturday’s Western Conference finals Game 7 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.

“I don’t obviously know much about the details. Obviously I know that he had surgery and all that,” Brown said after practice. “For me, it’s the same thing. I haven’t — I don’t want to know. Just let me know if he can play, and when he can play.”

Brown was equally noncommittal when asked about the challenges of playing through a broken finger. NBA history offers examples ranging from Kobe Bryant playing through a fractured index finger during the Lakers’ 2010 championship run to Gordon Hayward returning just over a week after fracturing his pinky during the 2020 preseason with the Charlotte Hornets.

“It varies. It’s just different strokes for different folks, you know what I’m saying?” Brown said. “Like, it may be one way for me but a different way for him — so it’s different. That’s hard to kind of generalize [playing with a broken finger] for the entire population.”

The expectation is Robinson will attempt to play with protective equipment around the injured finger. If he cannot, the Knicks suddenly become thin at center heading into the Finals.

Karl-Anthony Towns handles the bulk of the minutes but has a tendency to find himself in foul trouble. Behind Robinson sits second-year center Ariel Hukporti, who has largely remained outside Brown’s trusted rotation, while OG Anunoby has logged occasional minutes as a small-ball center. Jeremy Sochan also gives Brown another emergency option in smaller lineups.

“Whatever the picture ends up being, us having those trials and tribulations for the last two years where things weren’t looking good — just like at the end of December with the 2-9, 11-game stretch — it shows that we have resilience, and we’ll go out there and we trust everyone in this locker room, and if this playoff run has shown anything, I feel, to the fans and the media, one through 15 can go out there, put a Knicks jersey on and get the job done,” Towns said after practice. “And we truly believe in that. So this is a situation that we’ve garnered enough experience and enough trust in each other that whatever the picture ends up being when we step on that court Wednesday, we feel comfortable.”

The Knicks are 13-9 in games Robinson has missed this season. His 60 appearances were his highest total since 2021-22, with most absences coming not because of injury but as part of the organization’s strict load-management plan that kept him out of back-to-back games.

“We have to prepare, and we’re preparing every single day for whatever the situation may be, and we’re just ready,” Towns said. “We have a lot of days — we’ve been fortunate. It’s a fortunate thing that it happens when we have a lot of time or we can figure out a lot of the puzzle.

“But we don’t know what the picture is yet until we get to Wednesday next week.”

Robinson’s importance extends beyond the box score.

The longest-tenured Knick, selected 36th overall in the 2018 NBA draft, averaged 5.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 0.9 steals in fewer than 20 minutes per game this season. His rim protection, offensive rebounding and physicality have made him one of the defining pieces of New York’s playoff run.

The timing is particularly unfortunate given the matchup awaiting the Knicks. Oklahoma City starts former Knick Isaiah Hartenstein alongside Chet Holmgren, while San Antonio is built around 7-foot-4 phenom Victor Wembanyama.

“Mitch is very important. He’s an amazing player,” Anunoby said after practice. “It’s unfortunate what happened, but I’m sure — just take it day by day now.”

Robinson’s broken pinky represents the first significant injury setback of the Knicks’ postseason.

“We’re very fortunate. No one wants to have any setbacks,” Anunoby said. “Any team in the playoffs is gonna have setbacks, so we’ve been pretty fortunate. [We] had this come up, [so] just take it day by day, figure it out.”