Not What I Expected’: Kristaps Porzingis on Luka Doncic & Mavs Trade

Porzingis says, “I’m going to take my game to the next level because my body is going to be healthy, and that’s it.”

DALLAS - Kristaps Porzingis was inside a hyperbaric chamber on Thursday afternoon, part of his uphill battle toward getting his body NBA-game-ready, when he got a phone call from Dallas Mavs GM Nico Harrison.

Thursday was trade deadline day. KP knew what the call was about.

“Not what everybody expected, not what I expected, but that’s what it is in this league sometimes,” said Porzingis in his first visit with the media of the Washington Wizards, his new employer following Dallas’ “reverse-blockbuster” trade.

Porzingis was talking about the partnership with Luka Doncic, essentially. But in reflecting on the grand Doncic / Porzingis experiment, which obviously did not pan out, KP did not blame Doncic.

In fact, he praised him. 

“Luka is a great player and I wish him well,” KP said. “I wish him to achieve what he sets to achieve for himself.”

The 7-3 Porzingis, now 26, has been held back by injuries - really the central reason for this trade that brings to Dallas two lesser talents in Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.

They will not play Saturday against the Clippers but could debut for the Mavs on Tuesday.

And when will Porzingis take the floor for the Wizards? On Saturday, Washington’s official injury report, for a moment, anyway, listed him not only as having a bone bruise in his knee (which caused him to miss his last five games in Dallas) but also included the words “trade pending.”

Oh-oh.

Later, though, the Wizards announced that he will not be playing on Saturday.

Still, Porzingis said with some confidence, “I’m going to take my game to the next level because my body is going to be healthy, and that’s it.”