Kristaps Porzingis laments that he “never got to do something big” during his brief tenure with the Knicks.
Porzingis will play his first game back in New York as an opponent Wednesday night since forcing his way out of town last January.
The 24-year-old has moved past the drama in Gotham, and is now “looking forward to what’s ahead” with the ascendant Dallas Mavericks.
Per The AP:
“I remember when I was there the expectations were always high for us, and it’s a city hungry for success in basketball,” Porzingis said Wednesday. “And for them, for the fans and for the city to be going through this year after year, it’s got to be tough. And so it’s always a lot of pressure and when things are not going right immediately, there needs to be changes, and this year is no different for them again.”
Porzingis was surprisingly traded on Jan. 31 after Knicks management said he told them during a meeting that day that he wanted out. He was sent to the Mavericks in a deal that for now looks worse all the time for New York.
“It’s in the past now and I don’t want to bring it back up,” Porzingis said. “It is what it is. It happened and now I’m in a new place and looking forward to what’s ahead of me.”
He had four coaches in less than four full seasons, a far cry from the stability he has now in Dallas, where Rick Carlisle is in his 12th season.
“It’s obviously a positive here that there’s a coach that’s been here already for many, many years and won here and is well-respected here,” Porzingis said. “It’s tough as a player, of course, but it’s not something I can affect really. So it happened that way in New York and everything is a learning experience, a learning lesson for me.”
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