New York Knicks controversial center Mitchell Robinson was not made available to reporters on Friday after their first practice since his Snapchat rant.
However, Robinson apologized in an Instagram reply to Knicks Fan TV’s post of a screenshot of his controversial Snapchat rant.
“Yo, it’s come real asf for the past few weeks,” Robinson said. “I have been going through the perfect storm, as I call it, after the game against Portland. I just snapped like I got a baby on the way. I got family issues. I just got figure a way to get back under control where my mind was free.”
“I was good after I had 3 bad games. I just started thinking about all the stuff I had going on and kept it going. I’ll figure it out, though. I’ll be fine. My bad. I should have handled it differently and didn’t want any bad blood. I gotta find myself.”
Robinson had two consecutive duds during the Knicks’ last two games on the road, which, interestingly, ended up as wins. In both games, Knicks backup center Isaiah Hartenstein played much better, and New York coach Tom Thibodeau went with him in the closing lineup.
Robinson only managed six attempts in both wins, averaging 3.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.0 steals in 22.5 minutes while netting a total of minus-19.
Former NBA player-turned-analyst Chandler Parsons ripped him for being selfish.
“See, most of y’all wanna say I’m being childish or petty or whatever, but let me put this in the air now, I can be selfish, shoot 80 shots and not play defense, but that’s not me though,” Robinson said in another Instagram reply.
“I give up my body for this sh*t. Y’all say I’m injury prone. All my injuries came from another play on the defensive side. Let me not play defense like I know I can and not play hard, I’ll never hurt again, but I love this sh*t too much not to risk getting hurt. I do think about getting injured or whatever. I just jump in the fire, and whatever happens, happen. F*ck it and play ball if we’re being real about it. So, despite the fact that, most of y’all say I need to play better, I play the way they want me to be. [I’m doing it for 5 years now.”
The Knicks inked Robinson to a $60 million, four-year deal last summer. He was enjoying the best stretch of his career until a fractured thumb sidelined him for a month.
This is not the first time Robinson attracted controversies for his social media posts. His immaturity was also an issue during Thibodeau’s first year at the helm, but he has made strides since that until this latest controversy.
Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo