New York Knicks guard Josh Hart publicly voiced his frustration over the recent signing of former teammate Mitchell Robinson to the Boston Celtics. Hart took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday night, responding to the Celtics' announcement of Robinson joining their team by writing, "Yo admin delete this."
Hart and Robinson played together for four seasons with the Knicks after Hart was acquired in a trade in 2023. Robinson, who spent eight years with the Knicks, also indicated he did not wish to leave New York in online interactions with other players, including OG Anunoby.
"I tried brother, I didn’t want this to happen," Robinson reportedly commented on Instagram in response to Anunoby. "Hopefully the truth comes out at some point. I’m going to miss you big dawg!"
Robinson's departure from the Knicks became a significant talking point following the team's championship run. Knicks owner James Dolan had previously expressed reluctance to exceed the NBA's second salary cap apron, a move he described as financially prohibitive.
"There’s certain things in the NBA that you’d have to be suicidal to do. One of them is the second apron. Cannot go into the second apron," Dolan stated last month on WFAN’s “The Carton Show” before Robinson's signing. He further clarified, "I’ll write as big of a check as possible, but I can’t write a check that goes into the second apron." The second apron was approximately $222 million this season, with substantial restrictions and penalties for teams exceeding it.
Robinson was originally drafted by the Knicks in 2018. During his eight seasons with the team, he averaged 7.5 points, eight rebounds, 0.9 steals, and 0.7 assists per game. In the Knicks' recent NBA Finals appearance, he contributed 5.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
The Knicks have since signed Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado, Mohamed Diawara, and Clarkson this offseason, and acquired veteran Andre Drummond to replace Robinson. These moves represent a cap hit of $17.5 million for the team.