The NBA Media's Odd Fascination With The 'Porzingis Trade'

On February 1st, 2019 the New York Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr, Courtney Lee and Trey Burke to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Dennis Smith Jr, DeAndre Jordan, Wes Matthews and two future 1st round draft picks. A day Knicks fans will never forget because the NBA media will never stop reminding us it happened.

I remember being at work doing what I did best—scrolling Twitter and waiting to clock out so I could go home and scroll Twitter—and suddenly seeing the news break. It was genuinely shocking to trade the first Knicks All-Star since David Lee in exchange for Dennis Smith Jr who was averaging 13 points and was going to take minutes away from Frank Ntilikina who I convinced myself was the next Tony Parker.

This was a big deal at the time.

The Knicks gave up on their potential franchise star. The team won 17 games prior to his arrival and almost doubled their win total (32) in Porzingis’s rookie season. That’s not a guy you ship away for Wes Matthews.

His play helped develop the terrible NBA media term ‘unicorn’ for guys like him, Giannis and Joel Embiid. 7-footers who could both shoot AND dribble. A rare feat for big men prior to 2015.

This Porzingis trade opened the door even wider for the media to get lazy Knicks jokes off and make fun of their fan base for likes and retweets. Cool.

The Mavericks, however, went all-in on Luka Doncic by sending away the other young ball-dominant point guard in the lineup and began their journey to creating the whitest roster in NBA history.

But in a league where superstars get traded every year, it never made sense that this Porzingis trade was being revisited and re-graded by NBA writers every few months. You couldn’t listen to a Bill Simmons podcast without him randomly mentioning the trade for absolutely no reason.

The Knicks didn’t keep any of the players they received in the deal. It was essentially Kristaps—who was up for a max contract that the team didn’t feel like he was worthy of—for two first round draft picks and cap space.

It makes no sense to even bring up the Knicks when discussing the Mavs.

On Dallas’s side, Kristaps has been trash. He missed his first season in Texas with a torn ACL. This season he missed 29 games due to injuries.

And when he’s on the floor, he’s an afterthought. He’s 7-foot-3 and refuses to play near the basket where you would think he’d score easily over smaller defenders yet he chooses to stand behind the 3-point line as if he’s Kyle Korver.

He’s the tallest guy on the court and rarely has more rebounds than Luka.

His shittiness was the highlight of the Mavs first round playoff exit against the Clippers this season where all of his flaws came out in one glorious moment.

7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis with the steal and… fast break 3?! 😱pic.twitter.com/IK8RCKRCTw

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 6, 2021

I think we’re all aware that in 2021, a pull-up 3 in transition is one of the smarter shots a great shooter can take because it is one of the few times during a game they will be wide open and be able to dribble into their shooting motion without any defensive pressure.

That being said, Kristaps is NOT on the list of players that should be doing that shit. He’s not Trae Young or Steph Curry. Porzingis shot 29% from 3 in this year’s playoffs.

Can’t stress enough that this creep is 7-foot-3 and averaged 5 rebounds against the Clippers. That’s less than CJ McCollum and Kyrie Irving—two players who stand on each other’s shoulders wearing a big overcoat and still be smaller than Kristaps.

I’m all for making fun of this geek. Especially today when there are reports that Porzingis is frustrated with his role and doesn’t want to be Luka’s sidekick after we just watched 7 games of Kristaps playing like garbage and Luka BEGGING him to step up and become his sidekick instead of his achilles heel.

But leave the Knicks out of it. There is no need to even mention the Porzingis trade at this point. We all mock Paul George but Bleacher Report doesn’t constantly re-post the same ‘Who won the Paul George trade’. No one even cares that he left OKC.

There is no other player in the league whose former team gets dragged into their current nonsense.

The Knicks won the Porzingis trade.

They are not paying max money to a future Shanghai Shark whose bones are made of wet cardboard. But like, who cares? The Rockets traded James Harden to the Nets for *squints* nothing. No one has shit to say about Houston every time Harden does something.

The NBA media lacks originality and gets all of their jokes and content from old Bill Simmons podcasts. If you’ve ever made a Porzingis trade joke, please reconsider why you think your unoriginal bullshit is worth posting.