Do Knicks Have a Case For a Kristaps Porzingis Reunion?
If the New York Knicks are looking to conjure some offseason magic, there may be few better teams to call than the Washington Wizards ... but some may feel going after one of D.C.'s current top options might be dabbling in the dark arts.
In listing some offseason trade options for the Knicks, Steve Popper of Newsday mostly ditched the idea of trading for the superstars that offseason gossip has linked to Manhattan (i.e. Joel Embiid, Damian Lillard) and tried to focus on more realistic deals. One of those latter options included calling Washington about Kristaps Porzingis, the draft night reject-turned-franchise savior-turned-traded pariah who enjoyed a relative breakout campaign in 2022-23, his most productive season since he missed the entire 2018-19 campaign due to an ACL injury.
With Mitchell Robinson's future blurry, Popper argued that the complete makeover of the Knicks' franchise since Porzingis left could give New York a potential replacement and an offensive threat beyond the five feet around the basket.
"New front office, new coach, no ties to the hopes and dreams that he once carried in New York, and the bridges burned on both sides," Popper declared. "What you see now is a possible replacement for Mitchell Robinson in the middle that would provide outside shooting and clear the lane for Brunson, RJ Barrett, and Julius Randle."
Porzingis is coming off a career-best in scoring with 23.2 points a game in his first full season in Washington. No players remain on the Knicks' roster from Porzingis' last New York excursion in 2017-18 and the team was still three years away from bringing current team president Leon Rose into the fold.
Fans were outraged about Porzingis' original arrival in 2015, booing his selection at fourth overall before he flipped the script to the tune of a rookie season breakout before earning an All-Star nomination in his third year. While he was out with the aforementioned ACL injury, the Knicks traded Porzingis, along with Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Courtney Lee to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews, Dennis Smith Jr., and two first-round picks, one of which has been a point of contention between New York and North Texas.
Porzingis inked a max contract with the Mavericks but was traded to Washington in February 2022. While the Wizards have struggled to contend, having missed even the Play-In Tournament in consecutive seasons, Porzingis has re-discovered his grove to the tune of averages of 22.9 points and 8.5 rebounds.
Before the Knicks and Wizards did battle in January, Porzingis looked back on his New York tenure with fondness.
"It was a dream come true," Porziņģis recalled in an interview with Mark Medina of NBA.com. "In the moment, I didn’t realize it’s not like that everywhere. New York is a special place. Madison Square Garden is the most special place I had ever played in. But at that moment, I thought it was like that on every team. I had the most fun playing in The Garden."
Porzingis isn't the only former Knick targeted by Popper, as he also suggests current Detroit Piston Alec Burks along with Torrey Craig (Phoenix), Seth Curry (Brooklyn), and Josh Richardson (New Orleans).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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