Ultimately, both Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks missed on Kristaps Porzingis
The combination of Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis was a great concept that failed only because the Unicorn is built for an NBA game not an NBA season.
Turns out, he’s not even built for an NBA month.
The Unicorn can dominate an NBA game, but not much more than that.
Before the NBA’s trade deadline came on Thursday, the Mavericks traded Porzingis to the Washington Wizards in exchange for point guard Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon first reported the deal.
Not sure what this trade means to the future of Jalen Brunson with the Mavericks, but this addition should give Doncic help in that he doesn’t have to be the point guard on every single possession.
This trade wasn’t about Dinwiddie, or adding a point guard. It was about getting Porzingis off the books, and moving on from something that was not going to change.
Both the Mavs and Knicks were right to buy in on Porzingis, but they both missed.
Just like the Knicks, the Mavs could not rely on Porzingis’ health, so they had to dump him.
Can’t say the Mavs didn’t try.
The Mavs found out what the Knicks suspected when they made him available early in 2019, as he was recovering from a torn ACL. He can play, but he can’t hold up.
In January of 2019, the Mavericks sent Dennis Smith Jr., two future first-round draft picks, and DeAndre Jordan and Wes Matthews to the Knicks in exchange for KP, Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee and Trey Burke.
The only player who has done much for either team has been Tim Hardaway Jr.
At the time of his arrival, Porzingis was still out while rehabbing his knee. A few months later, he signed a five-year, $158 million deal with the Mavs, at the time the largest contract in franchise history.
There were stretches of dominance when he played like an All-Star who, when paired with Doncic, could scare the best teams.
Too often, though, KP didn’t scare anybody other than the Mavericks when he was on the bench in street clothes nursing his latest ailment.
KP’s production wasn’t the issue as much as KP’s availability.
In his first active season with the Mavs, he appeared in 57 of the NBA’s 75 regular-season games. (You’ll recall that the end of the season was axed because of COVID.)
In the first-round playoff series against the L.A. Clippers, he was good but a knee injury that eventually required surgery limited him to three of the Mavs’ six games.
In 2020-21, KP appeared in 43 of the Mavs’ 72 regular-season games. By the time the playoffs rolled around, then coach Rick Carlisle was done with the Unicorn and made him an expensive decoy.
This season, the Mavs have played 55 games, and Porzingis has appeared in 34.
He averaged 20 points and 8.8 rebounds in his time with the Mavs, but he didn’t play nearly enough.
Porzingis is 26, and he is a generational talent. He’s a freak who can block shots at the rim, hit 3-pointers, take defenders off the dribble and post up defenders.
But this isn’t worth much if said talent is encased in a tailored jacket on the end of the bench nursing a sore back.
KP is neither soft, nor is he ducking games. He’s a 7-foot-3 man playing a physical sport, and the odds are not good for all of those parts to remain in good standing for weeks, if not months, on end.
The Knicks were ripped when they selected Porzingis with the fourth overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Since that draft night Porzingis proved he could play in an NBA game.
But, as the Mavericks learned, his body proved he can’t play an NBA season.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 4:01 PM.
