So the Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis to the Mavs for essentially Dennis Smith Jr. and some cap space, but why did the Knicks have to trade Porzingis right now? #NBA #Porzingis #Trade Instagram- @mj2k_allday
At first, like most Knicks fans and most people, I immediately thought the Knicks were like that one kid in class trying to stay back. But then after talking to an older Knicks fan and looking into it, I realized it’s not as bad as I or everyone initially thought because it’s about context.
Twitter- @mj2kallday
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Kristaps Porzingis was nursing an ACL tear that has kept him out for a year. And then a more than bad meeting with the Knicks in which Porzingis essentially didn’t buy in to the Knicks plan of rebuilding which is kinda weird since he knew this season would be a throwaway. Porzingis requested a trade and the Knicks immediately got to looking for offers. It makes sense up to this point. If your supposed franchise player isn’t bought into the plan, you can’t build around him because that person can’t be depended on to stay for that. But this also isn’t the first time Porzingis has shown signs of resentment against the Knicks. Remember when the Knicks got a new President in the Summer of 2017 and Porzingis stayed in Europe and refused to meet with him. He already wasn’t happy with the Knicks back then and this was no different.
Ok, ok so it made sense to trade Porzingis, but then why trade him for a guy you could have drafted in 2017 and you drafted Frank instead of him Deandre Jordan, and Wesley Matthews? Deandre Jordan and Wesley Matthews are valuable expiring contracts. By trading equal salary in Tim Hardaway Jr. who I do like, and Courtney Lee and then buying out DJ and Matthews, the Knicks have cleared up $74 M in salary cap so yeah it’s pretty valuable. The one unprotected 2021 first round draft pick and a protected 2023 first round draft pick are also pretty valuable, but shouldn’t you have been able to get more for a 7’ 3” demigod. I thought that, I mean he’s the unicorn. But it’s not as easy as that.
Kristaps Porzingis was unhappy with the Knicks and with that being public, the longer that crept into the media and spread around, the more Porzingis’s trade value would have diminished. Remember when we thought the Thunder had robbed the Pacers and to be fair it worked out well for both teams, but because Paul George had made it public that he wanted out, it put the Pacers in a state of distress to get assets back and teams were lowballing them offers. This also happened to Kyrie when he got traded for Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder with diminished value. Porzingis would have lost trade value as time past on. On top of that, we gotta consider his injury history. He’s injured his left achilles, left groin, right foot, right ankle, and right shoulders. I know Porzingis is only 23, but a torn ACL is not just an easy injury to come back from. On top of that Porzingis is 7’ 3”. Foot and leg injuries are very common for big men, especially big men who move fast and quick. Yao Ming was one of those players, Shaq was downed by injuries. There are players like Anthony Davis who has pushed through but a torn ACL is no small matter. Whether you think he will be injury prone or not is not necessarily important, it’s more about the perception the league would have. As more reports would have come out and more teams looked into Porzingis injury history, his trade value one again would have dropped.
Porzingis would have been a Restricted free agent this offseason, and the Knicks potentially could have done a sign and trade deal, but doing this has allowed a huge amount of cap space to be freed up, 2 max free agent slots. They also got Dennis Smith Jr, who can develop way more. I’m not insanely in love with his game, but having his own team for the time being will definitely help him. The Knicks will still be bad because DJ won’t play for the Knicks and so they can still get a good draft pick this year. Those future first rounders could be used in future trades to bolster a supporting cast around superstars.
Now this whole narrative of players wanting to play for New York is cool and on and I guess the Knicks really gave themselves the opportunity of signing max free agents who want to uplift franchises like maybe a Kevin Durant or a Kyrie. In fact, LeBron even considered going to the Knicks. But I don’t want to expect players to sign to the Knicks or have this be a factor if this trade was good for the Knicks or not.
While I’m still hurt about who we got and was hoping for better, I realize now that the Knicks did this all so quickly in order to avoid Porzingis’s value falling and to create massive cap space out of no where. Magic was praised for doing that when he traded D Lo and Brook Lopez and so this is pretty similar.
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