New York Knicks sophomore big man Mitchell Robinson is expected to sit out Team USA's intra-squad game tonight because of a knee injury, per Marc Berman of NY Post.
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson expected to be held out of tonight’s televised Team USA Intra-Squad game at T-Mobile Arena to rest sore knee, per source.
— Marc Berman (@NYPost_Berman) August 9, 2019
The Knicks new starting center was supposed to be a part of the USA Blue Team that consists of the 15-man training camp roster for the FIBA World Cup. They are set to face USA White Team, whose members are from the select squad that has the league's most promising young stars.
There has been no report on the severity of Robinson's injury, but he's not expected to miss a significant amount of time. He could be ready once Team USA heads to Australia to face the Boomers two months from now.
Robinson's absence will give Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich more time to experiment on a small-ball lineup which he's been trying out for the past couple of days. Although the Blue team still has Brook Lopez and Myles Turner, who are both terrific centers, coach Pop might give third-year veterans Kyle Kuzma and Donovan Mitchell a significant amount of time to play at the five.
The intra-squad game is part of Team USA's preparation for the upcoming FIBA World Cup, which is set to take place from August 31-September 15 in China. The American national basketball team has seen some of the NBA's best players withdraw their commitment to focus on their respective teams, and a serious injury could further hurt their chances of winning the tournament championship.
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