Leading up to the Thursday’s NBA Draft, there have been Kristaps Porzingis trade rumors. All that goes through the minds of New York Knicks fans is one question: Why?
New York Knicks Should Not Trade Kristaps Porzingis
If the Knicks were to trade Porzingis, it would send a very bad message to the fans. The franchise would restart its rebuild. With Porzingis, the Knicks have a young budding star who has two years of NBA experience to build a foundation around. If they traded him, they would have wasted those two years and given the team they dealt him to a player who is only 21 years old with NBA experience.
It would be a huge loss for a franchise that has not had many good picks in the draft, if any at all, over the last two decades.
How would the fan base feel seeing their homegrown talent go elsewhere and come back to haunt them for years? Such can be the case with one rumor in particular.
The Boston Celtics are rumored to be interested in a trade for Porzingis. The idea of Porzingis in Celtics green is horrific for New York fans. He would come back to the Garden and make the Knicks pay for giving up on him so soon, like Daniel Murphy of the Washington Nationals torches his former team, the New York Mets.
There is a chance that this might just be “fake talk” by the Knicks. They might just be spreading rumors to see what kind of interest is out there. There have been reports that the Knicks’ asking price has been high.
But nothing can be ruled out at this point. These trade talks feel like more than just rumors because of all the events that took place once the season ended. Porzingis skipped exit interviews. He went overseas without telling anyone. He also expressed his frustration about the dysfunction and drama surrounding the franchise. There was also a tweet from his Twitter account that said “L.A. Clippers” with smiley emojis, but he claimed that his account was hacked.
Time to Re-evaluate
All of these actions might have frustrated people in the front office, including Phil Jackson. We have seen that Jackson does not hold back. He went after his star player, Carmelo Anthony, possibly in an attempt to push Anthony out of town. If he can go after Anthony, then going after a two-year player is no problem from Jackson.
With all of the trade speculation leading up to the draft, the Knicks need to consider what direction they would like to go. They have a young star in the fold. With Anthony’s time fading and this roster being constantly overhauled, it’s time for some stability. Porzingis is that stability. He is the foundation to build around.
He might have been wrong to do all of those things once the season ended, but the franchise was also to blame. If this culture did not exist, Porzingis would probably not act up.
The Knicks’ front office needs to come to its senses and realize that any Porzingis trade will do more harm than good to this franchise’s long-term success. The fan base has been hearing “next year” for too long. It is time to stick with their young star, develop him the right way, and build around him.
