Knicks center Mitchell Robinson still recovering from foot surgery, likely out until around Christmas |Max Sporty|

Mitchell Robinson will be asked to carry a heavy load for the Knicks this season as the only proven, defensive mind left on the roster, and now it looks like New York won’t even have him until Christmas.

Robinson is still recovering from his foot surgery early in the offseason, will be out until December or January timeline, reports Yaron Weitzman (and later confirmed by many other Knicks writers).

The Knicks are used to playing without Mitchell, who missed 50 games last season after ankle surgery. Last season, the team could pick up a quality center in Isaiah Hartenstein to fill those minutes, but this offseason Hartenstein chased the big salary to another contender and signed with Oklahoma City (which offered much more than the CBA allowed New York).

That leaves the feisty but undersized Precious Achiuwa and the athletic but raw Jericho Sims as the top center on the depth chart, plus the recently signed Marcus Morris may be more likely to make the final roster right now (he’s on a non-guaranteed deal. ). Tom Thibodeau said he would consider using Julius Randle at center for stretches when small ball lineups make sense, but that’s not a long-term option (and Randle is expected to miss part of training camp while he recovers from shoulder surgery).

The Knicks have been active in the trade market looking for a center all summer but never found a deal they liked. The rest of the free centers are not the answer. Mitchell, who has been out for so long, puts more pressure on New York to consider less-than-ideal trade offers during training camp if a quality center is available.

The Knicks will still push for a top seed in the East and, if healthy, will be a legitimate threat to Boston and win the East this season. However, they will need to fill the gap in the center to fill those lofty aspirations.