Is Kristaps Porzingis’ days of being a top-tier talent over?
Back in 2019, the New York Knicks traded away their star big man, Kristaps Porzingis, a talented win in Tim Hardaway Jr. and two lesser talents in Courtney Lee and Trey Burke for Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and two future first-round picks, the last of which conveys to the Knicks this year.
Looking back on this deal, the Mavericks definitely won this trade, but not because of Kristaps Porzingis. Tim Hardaway Jr. has been balling out in this series against the Clippers and is earning himself a big payday this offseason since he is set to become an unrestricted free agent.
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Suddenly, Porzingis has gone from being the second-best player on the Mavericks, to someone that Dallas fans cannot stand in this series, which is why this trade is forever going to be known as “The Tim Hardaway Jr. Trade” instead of the “Kristaps Porzingis Trade.”
In this series, Porzingis is only averaging 12.7 points and just 4.5 rebounds while shooting 46.7% from the floor, but just 36.3% from three-point range. For a guy standing 7’3” and roughly 5-7 inches taller than the guy guarding him usually, Kristaps Porzingis should be dominating in the paint for the Mavericks, but he insists on staying away from contact and just shooting threes from way beyond the three-point line.
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I just do not understand what has happened to Porzingis and if he does not show up in Game 7 of this series, then Mavericks fans may run him out of Dallas! Smaller, less talented guys are outperforming him at this point on both ends of the court, which is really a shame given how talented Prozingis was his first few seasons with the Knicks.
His days of being the second-best player on this Dallas team are going to be over if he does not deliver a solid performance in Game 7 tonight against the Clippers. He is still under contract through the 2023-24 season, but if he cannot prove that he is still a key factor in the Mavericks success, this front-office will begin to start asking themselves why he is even on their roster.
