Kristaps Porzingis apparently found closure with former New York Knicks team president Phil Jackson after the latter was canned.
And even if he didn’t, he’s getting it now, as he averages career highs across the board and establishes himself as a shoo-in for All-Star honors.
Things soured between executive and player this past summer, when Porzingis skipped his exit meeting with the Zen Master. They took a turn for the irreparable when word broke that the Knicks were shopping their 22-year-old superstud. And then, somehow, they got even worse, when Jackson publicly copped to dangling Porzingis in pre-draft trades.
Though that entire debacle is behind the Knicks now, their Unicorn sounded slightly skeptical while talking shop with The Athletic’s Harvey Araton. Consider this excerpt, where he admits to speaking with Jackson after his dismissal, while also noting the Zen Master wasn’t the only one pushing an agenda:
You also expressed gratitude to Phil for drafting you, but did you feel betrayed by his talk of trading you just before he left the Knicks last summer, and has there been any communication with him since?
Porzingis: Yes, actually, I did talk to Phil, and I thanked him for the opportunity and for drafting me here. He was the one that took a chance on a skinny European, and I’m grateful for that. I told him that. At the same time, it is what it is. I wasn’t happy with what was going on. I was back home when the trade talk was happening. I love this place, and I wanted to stay. It wasn’t a good feeling, hearing you might get traded. But it wasn’t just Phil — there were more people involved and nobody reached out and kind of calmed me down. It was just my agent and my brother, Janis, who’s also my agent. And they were giving me all the news and telling me what was going on. I tried not to worry too much, because I couldn’t affect it at that point. It was out of my hands, but it wasn’t a good feeling. I didn’t like it.
Now that’s some well-placed shade.
Indeed, Jackson couldn’t have been the only one responsible for moving the wheels on Porzingis talks. You need to have some level of organizational support and/or agreement to explore such a huge move. And even if Jackson was acting alone, someone else from the team could have reached out to help set the record straight. That no one (apparently) did speaks to the dysfunction ingrained into the Knicks franchise.
Maybe this entire debacle is behind everyone. The Knicks better hope so. And they also better hope Porzingis is a forgiving dude, because they cannot afford to screw this up. He is, as he’s shown multiple times this season, their entire future.
