KP: I LOVE NEW YORK, BRO
Knick here to stay for now, puts out fire brother started
Kristaps Porzingis says all he wants to do is play basketball and you can see why. He’s thoroughly awesome at it. Defusing controversies is a lot easier when the Knicks win and Porzingis plays like a superstar, which is what transpired again Friday in a 120107 mauling of the Phoenix Suns.
Before the game, Porzingis stood in front of his locker, all 7-foot-3 of him, and reassured Knicks fans he’s here for “a long, long time.” It wasn’t terribly convincing, but then he started dunking and eliciting “M-V-P” chants and it all felt like a match made in Unicorn
fantasyland. “They know I’m here in New York, I love New York,” he said before dropping 37 points. “And I see myself as a Knick for a long, long time.” Porzingis didn’t want to address his future Friday because it’s too early for such distractions. But the necessity was created by his brother, Janis, whose interview with a Latvian magazine created doubt about Porzingis’ longterm commitment to the Knicks and his relationship with former teammate Carmelo Anthony. Porzingis pumped the breaks on those issues, but also walked a fine line between suppressing a controversy and supporting family. In the interview with ‘Sporta Vista,’ Janis suggested his younger brother will leave the Knicks if they don’t make him happy – even if it means giving up money – and that Porzingis skipped his exit meeting to prompt change because, “Melo and people around him never tried to change anything.” The translated excerpts were “taken out of context,” said Porzingis, who declined to elaborate further. Apparently the publication is released monthly and the excerpts were part of a much larger story.
The entire text is not available online. “That’s my brother and my agent. Whatever comments he makes or whatever, it is what it is,” Porzingis said. “I don’t know how to put this right: I think we’ll get to that later. We’ll talk about that more later. Now before a game I don’t think is the right moment. At the end of the season — that would be right moment for those kind of things.”
Porzingis is right about that. This is definitely a conversation for the upcoming offseason, when he’ll be eligible for a five-year extension somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 million. Only the Knicks can make such an offer, but, as Porzingis said himself, money isn’t his biggest motivation.
More than ever, players understand their worth and power, which can be leveraged to relocate. We know Porzingis and his brother aren’t above a power play. They did it to get to New York by refusing to work out for the Sixers ahead of the draft. Three years later, they did it to fix the Knicks by skipping the exit meeting.
But the interview conducted in Latvia wasn’t some threat or leverage play from Janis, who didn’t want it released in the U.S. There’s no need for such strategy at A this juncture. fter all, Porzingis is playing exquisitely and the Knicks have won four of their last five games. Janis’ work to groom Porzingis into a superstar – which began before anybody believed it realistic – is coming to fruition. The offseason workouts Janis helped develop have done wonders for Porzingis’ strength and post game.
So Kristaps is right. It’s not the proper time to discuss his future because the present is so remarkable.