IN UNICORN
room under his own power and was hopeful that the injury wasn’t serious. The following day, an MRI confirmed his worst fears.
“Honestly that moment when it happened, it was a sharp pain, but right when the injury happened, I got up, I started walking a little bit, felt better with every step,” he said. “Once I got to the locker room, I was like, ‘Can I get back in the game.’ I almost felt that good.
“When they did the testing I guess the doctors already had a bad feeling about it. Took me to the hospital and then came back and then I got the news. I thought it was like a sprain honestly. I didn’t feel a pop, I didn’t feel anything. Once it happened on the floor, I was trying to get back as soon as possible because I thought ‘I don’t want to be on the floor for too long and then it’s just a sprain.’ Then I got the bad news.”
Porzingis, now in his third season, will have missed 60 of a possible 246 games by the start of next season. His durability is an issue that isn’t going away anytime soon, especially with Porzingis likely to miss a minimum of 20-plus games next season before he is in uniform again.
His uncertain status is the dark cloud that hangs over a Knicks organization that is on pace to miss the playoffs for a fifth straight season. There could be dramatic changes to the roster by the time Porzingis is ready to play again. That could include the bench since there are no guarantees that head coach Jeff Hornacek will return. Porzingis has already played for three coaches.
When asked if he was satisfied with the job team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry have done trying to rebuild the roster Porzingis said: “It’s hard. I haven’t been really thinking about that as much. It’s something that, it’s their job and it’s in their hands and we’ll see what happens this summer. I haven’t really thought about it and it’s also not my job. So I’m confident that they will make the right moves.”
Porzingis appeared on the court 30 minutes prior to the Knicks game against Dallas. The arena was onethird filled and the address announcer welcomed Porzingis back to the Garden. He was greeted with polite applause.
“I believe that things happen for a reason,” Porzingis said. “And if this ever had to happen this is probably not to say a good moment, but if it had to happen, it happened now and I’m going to be able to use these last two months of the season and the whole offseason to work my body. Not only just getting bigger and stronger but just my movement, my body, the way my body moves and all those things.
“That’s going to be big for me also because of how long I am and things like that. So I think I don’t know how many months I have, I’m going to use it as efficiently as I can to come back better, to come back as a better player and also work on my mind. Not only physically but just work on my mind and come back sharp.”