New information regarding a potential Kristaps Porzingis-De’Aaron Fox swap sheds light on the New York Knicks’ views on the Latvian star.
Peeling back the layers of Kristaps Porzingis’ tenure with the New York Knicks will take time. As reports leak out, the fuller picture of the situation becomes clear.
As previously reported by Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Knicks explored a deal for Porzingis involving Sacramento Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox. Zach Lowe of ESPN is reporting new information that sheds new light on a potential trade involving Porzingis and Fox.
“Sacramento moved up in the lottery again — to No. 2 — and faced a pivotal moment: the chance to reorient their team around Luka Doncic,” writes Lowe. “Rivals sensed the dilemma and made offers for Fox — including a template from the New York Knicks centered around Kristaps Porzingis that would have required Sacramento to either send something beyond Fox or take unwanted Knicks salary (or both), sources say.”
So what does this mean? For one, the Knicks were looking to dump salary dating all the way back to the summer of 2018. That signals that the team’s plans were to push all the chips to the middle of the table in 2019—most likely without Porzingis.
Furthermore, the Knicks have painted the picture that they had no option but to trade Porzingis. The narrative is that Porzingis was a malcontent and there was no turning back. But was that the case way back in June of 2018?
Rather, the Knicks may not have been all that enthusiastic about investing in Porzingis in the long-term. His slight frame and injury history could have scared the front office and prompted their trade inquiries.
However, we still don’t know exactly what happened yet. This revelation tells us more, but it doesn’t tell us everything.
Ironically enough, Porzingis and Luka Doncic will end up playing together with the Dallas Mavericks although it could have been the Sacramento Kings in a different world.
