New York Notes: Knicks, Robinson, Watford, Clowney

The NBA fined the Knicks $25K on Monday for an injury reporting violation (Twitter link). According to the league, New York originally listed center Mitchell Robinson as out for the March 27 contest vs. Toronto, but he wound up playing 12 minutes in his first game back from a lengthy absence.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York-based teams:

• Speaking of Robinson, who missed most of the season with a fractured left ankle that required surgery, he has been quite rusty since he returned a couple weeks ago, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. In addition to having poor conditioning and timing, the 26-year-old says he still isn’t 100% confident in his ankle. “Pushing off. Absorbing contact through it. Stuff like that,” the Knicks big man said. “’Cause obviously no one wants this to happen again. I damn sure don’t. … It’s something I’ve gotta get back used to again.”
• In another story for The New York Post, Bondy examines the Knicks‘ complicated playoff possibilities with four regular season games remaining. New York, which is currently 46-32, the No. 4 seed in the East, can finish as high as No. 2, but theoretically could drop all the way down to No. 8, though the latter is very unlikely.
• Third-year forward Trendon Watford will be a restricted free agent this summer if the Nets give him a qualifying offer. He hasn’t been a rotation regular for much of the 2023/24 season, but he’s been trying to take advantage of an expanded role as Brooklyn deals with multiple frontcourt injuries, per Bridget Reilly of The New York Post. Watford is averaging 13.1 PPG on .571/.474/.696 over the past eight games (23.5 MPG).
• Nets rookie Noah Clowney got his first career start in Sunday’s loss to Sacramento and the young big man got thoroughly outplayed by Kings center Domantas Sabonis, observes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Clowney had seven points, 10 rebounds and was minus-26 in his 35 minutes, compared to 18 points, 20 rebounds, nine assists and plus-18 in 35 minutes for Sacramento’s star big man. “He’s just gotta be in it, you know? This is good for him,” interim coach Kevin Ollie said. “He’s gotta be in it and experience it, learn from it, just as long as you don’t quit in it, and he’s not gonna quit in it. These guys have been around — Sabonis is an All-Star — so hopefully he watches the tape and maybe gets something from Sabonis to bring it in his game, go lift some weights, all that stuff.” Clowney became just the fourth teenager in franchise history to start a game for the Nets, Lewis adds.