J-Speaks: Blockbuster Trade Between the Mavericks and Knicks

On Wednesday night, the Dallas Mavericks (23-28) defeated the New York Knicks (10-41) 114-90, handing them their 11^th straight loss and their 12^th straight loss on their home floor. While the Mavericks victory at the Knicks was not that much of a surprise, what was even more surprising was the blockbuster trade that took place where the so-called face of the Knicks’ franchise, who wanted out after a meeting with the front office was moved in exchange for a player, they could have drafted in the 2018 draft. 

On Thursday the Knicks officially traded power forward/center Kristaps Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks along with guards Courtney Lee, Tim Hardaway, Jr, and Trey Burke to the Mavericks in exchange for guard Dennis Smith, Jr., center DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and two future First-Round draft picks. 

“As is standard for this time of year, we were exploring various options on potential trades,” Knicks general manager Scott Perry said in the Knicks official press release on Thursday. “Considering uncertainty regarding Kristaps free agent status and his request today to be traded, we made a trade that we are confident improves the franchise. We thank Kristaps, Tim, Courtney and Trey for their contributions and with them all the best.” 

While the Knicks say goodbye to the No. 4 overall pick in 2015, they thought was going to be the face of the franchise that was going to lead them to better days going forward, they create close to $75 million in cap space to add to their war chest to go out to spend on now potentially two max contracts for the likes of unrestricted free agents to be like back-to-back Finals MVP Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics (33-19) All-Star lead guard Kyrie Irving, who had 23 points, 10 rebounds, six assists as the C’s won at the Knicks 113-99 on Friday night on ESPN. 

During the game Irving heard chants of his name from those in attendance at Madison Square Garden, and while he lately has hinted at the fact that he may want to scout the landscape when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, the New Jersey native was in no mood to talk about that after the win to the media.

“Are you reaching right now? Everybody heard it,” Irving, whose Celtics have gone 12-4 since the start of the new year, which includes 8 wins in their last 9 games, which told a reporter during his postgame pressure. “It’s just a distraction at this point. Like I said again, I’m appreciative of the cheers. I’m appreciative of the fan support that I get around the league in every arena. Obviously being back home.” 

“What has been said, I repeat myself again. What has been said, what has been circling around in terms of extra commentary-I kind of figured it was going to be something like that tonight. I’m just happy we got the win and I’m ready to head back to Boston.” 

He added during that postgame presser that he is focused on helping the Celtics who are now No. 5 in the East standings on winning a title this season and not his future saying, “I still have confidence in Boston and what they can promise for the future.” 

Porzingis, who will become a restricted free agent this summer, according to a tweet from Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports @ShamsCharania plans to inform the Mavericks his intent to sign the qualifying offer in restricted free agency, which begins on July 1. 

Another report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has yet to make a decision on his future with the Mavericks but expects to begin the process of getting to know the organization soon as he continues to rehab the torn ACL in his left knee, he sustained versus the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 6, 2018. 

“Over time, it became clear to us that Kristaps was not completely on board with the plan that we laid out,” Knicks’ president Steve Mills said in a phone interview on Thursday. “He’s a great player but this morning in a meeting he confirmed that he no longer wants to be a Knick.” 

“Given the uncertainty of going into free agency with a player who feels that way, we decided to make this trade.” 

This trade took place on the heels of Porzingis in a meeting on Thursday morning, along with his agent, his brother Janis, with Knicks management where he expressed their frustration with the franchise’s losing ways, where the Knicks have lost now a franchise record 13 games in a row 20 of their last 21 games and 25 of their last 27 games.

To bring the home losing streak at MSG into clearer context, 13 NBA teams not named the Knicks, nine NCAA Men’s Basketball teams, eight National Hockey League (NHL) teams and the Penn State Nittany Lion men’s hockey team have won in the Knicks house since Dec. 2, 2018.  

He also expressed in the meeting his frustration with the dysfunction on the team from winning more than 32 games in his three seasons in the “Big Apple,” where he played for three different coaches in Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis, and Jeff Hornacek in that span before Fizdale. 

Porzingis left that meeting, according to Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN saying that he no longer that he wanted to be part of the team and that it would be best that this partnership should end now with him being traded.

This is not the first time the Knicks and the 7-foot-3 Latvian had been at odds with each other as he skipped his exit meeting after his second season before he returned home to Europe this past off-season. 

First-year head coach David Fizdale had said that Porzingis had been around the team frequently even though he was out rehabbing his ACL, taking part in meetings and some on the court activities. 

Mills and Perry though saw something different and they wanted “confirmation” from him whether he was completely in on the Knicks plan to build themselves into a playoff perennial or was it now time to cut their losses and trade him. 

“This is what the situation called for,” Coach Fizdale said before the Knicks tilt versus the Celtics on Friday night about Porzingis being traded. “Obviously I never got to coach him and was excited to coach him. We had a really good relationship but he had to make a decision for him.” 

“In ten days, a lot of stuff can happen. You can’t really put thumb on when it starts. When the disengagement starts, but you can feel it.” 

“To get back two First-Round picks, that’s pretty dang good and we cleared 30-plus million dollars.” 

For the Mavericks, they now bring in a player in Porzingis who when healthy can form a lethal combination with leading Kia Rookie of the Year candidate in Luka Doncic, who in his Madison Square Garden debut had 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists. 

The two played professionally in Spain before and the fact that both were Top-5 picks in as 2015 and in 2018 respectably gives the faithful in “Big-D” that there hopefully are a couple of Larry O’Brien trophies in the future.

“I think is good for Dallas,” NBA on TNT studio analyst said on Thursday. “You got two European stars that will definitely player well together.”

Porzingis was named an NBA All-Star last season but did not play in the unofficial mid-season classic because of the ACL injury he sustained just days after milestone.  

Doncic said to MSG Network’s Rebecca Haarlow outside the Mavericks locker after their win at the Knicks on Wednesday that he thinks Porzingis is “an amazing player” that he watched a lot on television when he was in Europe and that he watched a lot of Knicks games because of him. 

“He has an amazing future here in the NBA and he could be one of the best to play this game,” Doncic added. 

For the Knicks, their focus now shifts of building their team hopefully around Smith, Jr., the point guard they passed on when they had the No. 8 overall pick in the 2017 draft, where instead they drafted Frank Ntilikina. 

Smith was chosen one pick later and had a great rookie season for the Mavericks but with the exceptional play and the attention of Doncic, Smith, Jr’s play was not the same and he even had some friction with head coach Rick Carlisle to where he took a leave of absence from the team when he heard his name in trade rumors. 

He eventually came back and in his last game as a Maverick posted his second career triple-double of 13 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds in the win at the Knicks. 

Both Jordan, a former U.S. Olympian and one of the best rebounders and rim protectors in the league and Matthews, a three-point shooter and solid perimeter defender both are in the last year of their respective contracts but the Knicks believe they have plenty to offer the team and bring the kind of veteran presence that will be a big help to the development to some of their younger players.    

More than anything what the Knicks brought in are players who have proven whenever they take the floor, they will bring a focus and competitive spirit to win games. 

What happened on Wednesday night versus the Mavericks when the Knicks were outplayed like they have been over the past two months will not stand with Jordan and Matthews on the team. 

The Knicks priority though is being able to have as much cap space and a functional organization to be able to pitch to a prime-time player like Durant, Irving, Jimmy Butler of the Philadelphia 76ers, Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets and perhaps others that this is the place where they can come and win. 

While the Knicks can offer to any potential suitor, they want to sign in free agency of them playing in one of the biggest media markets in the world, they have to show that their front office is their front office in sink with the players on the roster and the coaching staff. 

As fellow Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT studio analyst also said on Thursday having salary cap space “don’t mean nothing unless they get guys.” 

“Because you’re going to have to sign somebody, and if you sign guys who aren’t superstars, just good players it’s going to kill your franchise for the next 10-15 years.” 

The Knicks were in this situation a few years ago when they signed Amar’e Stoudemire to a five-year $100 million deal and while he was started off with a bang, his knees eventually gave out and he was not the same player. 

Then they tried to pair him with Carmelo Anthony a few years back and they only managed to make it to the East Semifinals in 2012 and were knocked out in the opening round of the 2013 East playoffs.”

The other problem for the Knicks this summer is they are not going to be the only team pitching. The surging Brooklyn Nets, the No. 6 Seed in the East currently; the Los Angeles Lakers, who have four-time Kia MVP LeBron James on their roster; the Los Angeles Clippers, who are in the thick of the playoff race in the rugged Western Conference will all be at the ready this summer to convince top market unrestricted free agents to join them. 

On Thursday, the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks made a blockbuster deal that changed the direction optimism of both franchises. For the Mavericks, they acquired a very talented big-man who can score, shoot, pass, and defend, when healthy though. 

Owner Mark Cuban’s hopes this addition along with Doncic means that their days of being a playoff perennial, like they were at the start of the 2000s is imminent and that they are in the conversation of becoming an NBA champion once the championship dynasty of the Golden State Warriors concludes. 

For the Knicks, it is very simple, they have to land a big fish in free agency this summer. They said goodbye to a player that was their franchise face going forward and because he did not like the direction of the organization, especially with all the losing lately that Porzingis wanted out now. 

Hopefully for them Dennis Smith, Jr. is at least a starting point of them turning things around and that he can play well to the point that some of the top talents in “The Association” want to come and sign and help makes the Knicks good again, which Perry expressed before the Knicks tilt versus the Celtics on ESPN on Friday night to sideline reporter Cassidy Hubbarth that the Knicks will do. But they will do so without being reckless. 

“I don’t look at it as pressure at all,” he told Hubbarth about the pressure of signing two superstar players in free agency this summer. “Again, we talked about a very sustainable building process when we got here. Building through the draft. Developing a lot of young players. Becoming more athletic. And so, that’s still a part of our plan.” 

“We were able to create a lot of financial flexibility in the deal that we made. We’re going to be very opportunistic.”

“If we’re fortunate enough to land, you know a top free agent great, but that’s not the end all, be all for us this summer. We’re going to continue with our gradual, steady, prudent build that we’re on. We’re excited about it, and we know we’re going to be a very good team in years to come.” 

That dream though of being great in hopefully those years to come starts this summer. As WABC 7 New York “Eyewitness News” anchor Ryan Field put it on Thursday night during his sports report about the Knicks in free agency starting on July 1, “They better get somebody.” 

Information and quotations are courtesy of, 1/31/19 7 p.m. TNT “NBA Tip-Off,” presented by Autotrader “NBA All-Star Reserves Reveal,” with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal; 2/1/19 www.nba.com story, “Knicks Trade Kristaps Porzingis to Mavericks;” and 2/1/19 7:30 p.m. ESPN’s “NBA Courtside,” presented by McDonald’s with Cassidy Hubbarth. 1/31/19 and 2/1/19 11 p.m. edition of WABC 7 New York’s “Eyewitness News,” with Bill Ritter, Sade Baderinwa, Lee Goldberg with Weather and Ryan Field with Sports; 2/2/19 12:30 a.m. edition of “After the Buzzer,” on ESPN with Michelle Beadle, Jalen Rose, Michael Wilbon, and Paul Pierce.