NBA Rumors: Knicks Received Calls From ‘Several Teams’ Inquiring About Kristaps Porzingis

The New York Knicks seem to be an absolute mess right now. As if finishing the 2016-17 NBA season without a playoff appearance wasn’t bad enough, the Knicks brass has made the Carmelo Anthony situation that much uglier while also making arguably their best player, Kristaps Porzingis, unhappy about the team’s current dysfunction.

Porzingis was so unhappy with the way things have been handled in New York that he skipped his exit interview and hasn’t spoken to team president Phil Jackson since the end of the season. Apparently, once news broke about Porzingis missing his exit interview, the phone started ringing off the hook in the Knicks front office asking whether their star forward was available, according to ESPN’s Ian Begley:

Several teams reached out to the New York Knicks to talk about possible trades for Kristaps Porzingis in the days after he skipped his exit meeting with Phil Jackson and general manager Steve Mills, league sources told ESPN.

It remains unclear whether there were any significant trade talks that transpired involving Porzingis. The Knicks seem intent on trading Anthony this summer if he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause, but moving Porzingis would be a step in the wrong direction unless the relationship can’t be repaired over the course of the offseason.

It’ll be interesting to see the way things pan out in New York as Jackson has been incredibly unsuccessful during his time as the team’s president. The only substantial move Jackson has made since returning to New York was taking a chance on Porzingis with the fourth overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Although drafting Porzingis was a step in the right direction, losing the up-and-coming star would definitely be two steps back unless the trade makes a lot of sense.