GREENBURGH, N.Y. _ He's gone.
Kristaps Porzingis, the player who was supposed to be the linchpin of the Knicks' rebuild, will not return to Madison Square Garden this season _ or likely ever _ in a Knicks uniform.
In a move that elicited a collective gasp from Knicks fans around the country, the team sent Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr., Trey Burke and Courtney Lee to the Mavericks in return for Dennis Smith Jr., two future first-round draft picks, and DeAndre Jordan and Wesley Matthews, who have expiring contracts.
What the heck? Porzingis was supposed to have been the best thing to happen to the Knicks in years. He was supposed to be the player who led the Knicks back to respectability. He was supposed to be the guy everyone in the league wanted to play with, a guy who was going to be the big lure this offseason when the Knicks hit free agency.
Well, it turns out that the tale of Porzingis in New York _ just like his nickname, The Unicorn _ was a little too good to be true.
Knicks fans wanted Porzingis to be a success story. A 7-3 player who could shoot 3-pointers and defend. What's not to like? Fans quickly forgot they had booed when Phil Jackson made him the No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 draft. Porzingis started 72 games his rookie season and quickly became a fan favorite. Last season, he was voted into the All-Star Game before suffering an ACL injury that has sidelined him since Feb. 6, 2018.
The success of Porzingis made the long-suffering Knicks faithful feel good, given that the Knicks drafted so many duds in the past. Charlie Ward, whom the Knicks drafted in 1994, was the last player they signed to a multi-year deal beyond his rookie season. With Porzingis, fans finally thought they had found a player whose jersey they could buy and keep for more than four or five years.
And then Thursday happened.
For as fun as he was to watch, Porzingis never has been a player to hide his frustrations easily. Having had four coaches _ Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis, Jeff Hornacek and David Fizdale _ and never having won more than 32 games, Porzingis had plenty to be frustrated by.
Yet it's one thing to constantly demand star treatment when you are putting up big numbers every night. And it's quite another thing to demand it when you are coming back from a torn ACL, a serious sort of injury that both the Knicks and Porzingis admitted that big-time players of his size had suffered before. There is no guarantee Porzingis is going to be the same type of player when he returns.
There also were question marks as to how Porzingis was going to get along with Fizdale, given the mini-controversy they had in in November. Fizdale said he hadn't started sprinting as part of his rehab, and Porzingis reacted by posting pictures of himself sprinting on a track, accompanied by a profane phrase that indicated someone wasn't telling the truth.
This Knicks regime is not the one that drafted Porzingis, and it's apparent they think their options in free agency are better than Porzingis. The Knicks' move was all about cap space, and the trade gives them the potential to sign to max players. Imagine this: It is possible that next season the Knicks could have a starting lineup that includes Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Dennis Smith Jr. and Zion Williamson.
OK, that probably won't happen. But as the 10-40 Knicks head into the second half of the season without a player averaging more than 14.7 points a game, it doesn't hurt to dream.
