Hornacek hints at Knicks’ Porzingis strategy
Before getting fired, Jeff Hornacek gave a clue on how the Knicks might handle locking up Kristaps Porzingis long-term when he raved about the franchise’s bright future.
Hornacek said the benefit of 2019’s free agency, when the Knicks have cap space, is they still can re-sign Porzin- gis and creatively go over the salary cap, according to NBA rules. That sounded as if offering Porzingis a contract extension this summer, in the wake of his ACL tear, is a low priority. Doing an extension would take away from their 2019 cap space.
Team president Steve Mills was unusually tightlipped on the issue. With Porzingis’ injury uncertainty, the 7-foot-3 Latvian may prefer to get it over with this summer and not wait until he’s a restricted free agent.
“We’re not going to talk about Kristaps’ contract situation at this point,’’ Mills said Thursday.
Sources have indicated Porzingis could be back by Christmas, but management didn’t want to go there.
“He wanted to really attack it, and that’s what he’s done. We’ve remained in close contact with him and his camp and our therapist and his therapist,’’ Mills said. “I think things are moving along at a good pace that everyone’s comfortable with, and we’ll continue to stay really closely connected with him on that and confident.
“Like I said [in February], he would come back a better and stronger player.’’
Porzingis has been rehabbing at the Hospital of Special Surgery and going twice a week to a performance doctor independent of the Knicks, Carlon Colker, to bulk up the rest of his body. This time, though, Porzingis will attend his exit meeting.
“We’ll have a plan for Kristaps,’’ general manager Scott Perry said. “For each one of our players, we’ll have a plan to maximize [them], both on the court and physically over the summer. And that’ll be part of the discussion with Kristaps, because we all have the same desire. He wants to play as many games as he can, be as strong as he can and be as effective. And we’re both in synch as it relates to that.’’