Keeping KP worth thousands to fans
Knicks president Phil Jackson had until Friday at midnight to get the yellow neon message ingrained into his head this summer as he attempts to mend fences — or not — with disgruntled Kristaps Porzingis.
The digital billboard on the corner of 33rd Street and 7th Avenue Thursday pleaded with the Knicks to keep Porzingis on draft night as Jackson entertained trade offers for the 7-foot-3 Latvian superstud. The 65-by-83 sign, paid for by the digital media company Cycle, went live at 10 p.m. Thursday night at the corner with the message: “Don’t Trade Porzingis. We’re not affiliated with Porzingis but just want him to stay.’’
Rob Perez, a 30-year-old longtime Knicks fan and sports anchor of Cycle, told The Post his company executives “brainstormed’’ on the venture. They nearly did a similar one over the winter after Charles Oakley’s Garden escapade in which the legendary power forward got wrestled to the ground and arrested by arena security.
“We were looking for a message we believe in, saw it as an opportunity to comment from a marketing standpoint with fun content,’’ Perez said.
Perez declined to disclose the price, but an industry source estimated the 24-hour message cost a few thousand dollars.
“I’m just old enough to remember the Bulls-Knicks series with Phil [coaching Chicago],’’ Perez said. “I’ve been a Knicks fan ever since, haven’t missed a game, through the good and bad.’’
Perez has a feeling Jackson actually wasn’t planning to trade Porzingis as he asked for the moon and then some.
“We’ll never know what Phil was thinking, but one school of thought could be to show Kristaps, ‘I’m still the man and president and you’re still a player,’ ’’ Perez said.