Kristaps Porzingis’ brother/agent, Janis, said some stuff about some things pertaining to his bro’s future with the New York Knicks. People ran with it, including us, because duh. The Knicks are the Knicks, and it seemed they somehow managed to permanently ruffle the feathers of their most important player since Patrick Ewing.
Porzingis downplayed the comments, because he’s not one to openly fuel controversy. General manager Scott Perry, meanwhile, pleaded ignorance this sweek when asked about Janis’ sentiments, per the New York Post‘s Marc Berman:
Knicks GM Scott Perry addressed reporters before the game and was asked about the brother’s remarks.
“I don’ t really want to talk about that right now,’’ Perry said. “The time to talk about contract extensions, that’s far. We’re living in today. KP is playing some very good basketball right now. He’s playing well and happy with this team. We’ll deal with all that stuff later. But no comment in terms of what was said because I really don’t know (what it meant).”
“I’ve met (Janis), had a good initial meeting with him. I’m looking forward to getting to know him better as we move forward.’’
Good response, Scott. Practiced and polished.
We could make fun of this blatant deflection, but moving on is the right play. Nothing can be gained from indulging speculation that may be founded or unfounded, and more importantly, Porzingis isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Unless the Knicks inexplicably don’t offer him a deal, he’ll have a max extension in front of him this summer. He’ll have to turn that down, and the turn down another long term deal in 2019 as a restricted free agent, to control his own future by 2020. Players don’t typically jump through that many hoops when faced with their first life-changing contract. Porzingis would have to be mega-unhappy with the Knicks to hold out that long—displeased enough to not once, but twice turn down nine-figure offers.
