When he was selected as number 4 in the 2015 NBA choice, the great Latvian Kristaps Porzingis was seen as one of the young players who would bring the New York Knicks back to the title contest. In his second game season for the Knicks, Porzingis had already become the face of the franchise. Unfortunately, Porzingis’ reign with the Knicks did not last long as they decided to part ways before the NBA’s commercial deadline of February 2019.
When they traded an injured Porzingis with the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews, Dennis Smith Jr. and a couple of choices in the first round, the Knicks thought they had won the successful trade. However, with their inability to maximize the resources obtained by the Mavericks and the return of the Latvian center to Dallas, Marc Berman of the New York Post believes that the Knicks should regret the way they handled Porzingis’ situation in New York.
“The Knicks have failed to transform the roof space they opened by swapping Porzingis and Hardaway into another All-Star, while acquired guard guard Dennis Smith Jr. has so far been a disappointment. These bankruptcies probably played a role in the fact that Steve Mills was fired as president in February. The best part of the roundup were the two future round-rounds that the Knicks received from Dallas, both of which could be used by Rose in an exchange for an extraordinary one like Porzingis. “