Porzingis is a Maverick
Trade Details:
New York Knicks Acquire: Wesley Matthews, DeAndre Jordan, Dennis Smith Jr, an unprotected 2021 first-round pick and a lightly protected 2023 first-round pick.
Dallas Mavericks Acquire: Kristaps Porzingis, Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr and Courtney Lee
Kristaps Porzingis has possibly undergone the shortest ever sports saga ever. Within twenty minutes of announcing that he was unhappy with the Steve Mills and Scott Perry front-office, Porzingis was traded to the Mavericks. It is obvious with all of the tweets from Adrian Wojnarowski, Shams Charania and Marc Stein that this deal has been in the works for the past few weeks. That being said, it was completely under wraps and was shocking to everybody involved and everybody in the NBA. This was the shortest sports saga since Fabinho’s forty minute transfer saga to Liverpool.
The actual meat of the deal is very interesting on both sides. Kristaps going to Dallas will provide a second star to the wonderkid that is Luka Doncic. It will bring more out of Doncic as he has an offensive star to pass the ball to and work off, Porzingis has displayed ability to pass the ball. The acquisition of Porzingis could mean that Doncic can operate more off-ball which will make greater use of shooting ability. Moreover, Porzingis will provide another go-to scorer who can get the ball in pressure situations and get a bucket. It simply works for Dallas.
There are risks that are associated with this deal. The first issue being that Kristaps is still recovering from a serious injury and it is unknown what level of player he will be when he returns from injury. Porzingis tore his left ACL during the 2018 season, this type of injury will sap explosiveness from a player providing that there are even just minor complications from all of the medical procedures. A torn ACL needs to be rehabbed carefully and the rehabilitation process cannot be rushed. Three Six Latvia has been completely off-the-grid and it is unknown at what stage his recovery is at.
The other risk is that Kristaps is uncertain about re-signing with the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks have given up a fair amount of assets in the form of draft picks, veterans and a young asset in the form of Dennis Smith Jr. This would be all for nothing if KP signs a qualifying offer and becomes an unrestricted free agent who can choose his own destiny. Dallas do have a number of factors that would appeal to Kristaps. The Mavericks have Doncic who KP is close with and Dirk who KP looks up to you.
Moreover, it is evident that Kristaps Porzingis cares about more about basketball culture than he does about night-life or any other social factors. New York is a metropolis where Porzingis could live a comfortable life where he can pursue all of his interests and enjoy a comfortable life. Dallas is a nice city but it is not New York. It proves that Kristaps cares about developing as a basketball player more. Rick Carlisle has shown an ability to bring players along consistently and the Mavericks have shown there is a strong organisational culture. Carlisle has made every player from Dorian Finney-Smith to Dirk a better player and is arguably one of the best coaches in the NBA. Mark Cuban has created the type of organisational culture that is highly desirable.
The Mavericks have not made wholesale changes in their front-office for years. Donnie Nelson has operated within the Dallas Mavericks for twenty years in which he has won a championship and has consistently built teams that have great winning percentages. The team has a culture of winning that has been built on hard-work and an obsession with the details. Mark Cuban himself is obsessive about every detail on the franchise so players come to Dallas and become even incredibly good. Jason Terry and Tyson Chandler are just a few names who have performed incredibly well in Dallas as a result of the meticulous planning.
The Dallas front-office has also employed a culture of risk-taking, there is no sense of staid custodianship with the Mavericks. Over the past nine months, Dallas has made audacious decisions that have benefitted the team greatly. Acquiring Doncic on draft night and getting Porzingis in a trade have increased the team’s potential. These types of moves could have easily blown back in Cuban’s face but he has stuck it out.
The other assets acquired can also be very useful to Dallas. THJ and Courtney Lee are both overpaid as players but they are certainly serviceable NBA veterans. Tim Hardaway Jr’s contract is heinous, it will eat into Dallas’ cap space for the future but this is no different to Wesley Matthews contract. Hardaway provides replacement level production which is corroborated by his career PER of 13.7. Tim Hardaway is a player who can fit into the starting line-up as a supplementary piece but by no means should be a first, second or third scoring option.
Courtney Lee has a slightly less egregious contract, he will be paid $25m over the next two seasons but he has consistently shown that he can produce as a 3andD wing. The current season of Courtney Lee’s career will be discounted due to small sample size, he has only played twelve games as New York have embraced the tank. However, in his last season Courtney Lee was an efficient player. He shot 40.6% from three and was a determined defender. The three-point shooting was in low-volume which could indicate that his shooting was above the mean for that season. But, there is evidence that Lee can sustain that kind of clip, he has hovered around 40% for the past three seasons on roughly 3–4 attempts per game. Lee could slot in nicely into Dallas’ bench which has been lacking scoring punch since JJ Barea went down with injury.
On the Knicks side of the deal, it is somewhat confusing. The Knicks sold very low on Porzingis to acquire DSJ + expiring contracts and a few draft picks. The acquisition of the draft picks was a solid move by the Knicks front-office as it provides them with future assets that could be very useful. In recent years, Philadelphia and Boston have both used their treasure drove of picks to acquire players or even more draft picks.
Dennis Smith Jr would be a good acquisition for a team lacking a point guard but for the Knicks, it does not make much sense. The Knicks currently have Ntilikina and Mudiay in their guard rotation, given Mudiay’s solid play recently he will likely be starting. DSJ coming off the bench will stunt his growth as he does not have the same amount of minutes to get used to NBA basketball. Moreover, it also means that there is a possibility that Ntilikina is buried in the depth charts and will never had the chance to develop as a basketball player.
It is likely that Wes Matthews will be bought out as he is still a functional NBA player who makes winning plays which would obviously affect the plan for the tank. It will be interesting to see where Wes ends up. OKC, Houston and Golden State will all be interested in Wes Matthews as a buyout candidate. DeAndre Jordan will either be traded or bought out but it is hard to project which team will want to acquire DAJ.
The key benefit of moving the assortment of contracts for the Knicks is that the team has opened up a huge amount of cap space. The Knicks will have two maximum contract slots available for top-level free agents in the 2019 off-season. The Knicks have previously been in this situation before. In 2010, New York opened up two slots in order to try and acquire LeBron and Wade. Neither player signed with the Knicks and went to the Miami Heat instead. The Knicks acquired A’Mare Stoudemire instead. There is a possibility that the Knicks acquire Tobias Harris and Khris Middleton instead of KD and Kawhi.
This trade was wholly unexpected and it provides even more questions for the NBA going forward. The Western Conference is clearly stronger than ever before and it is possible that a healthy KP will mean that Dallas is a dark-horse for the 8th seed in the West. The other aspect that must be considered is the effect on Anthony Davis. Davis is currently subject to his own trade rumours, it could be possible that either the Clippers or the Lakers make a trade now in order to secure a play-off berth. The last aspect to be considered is the future of Kyrie Irving. Irving has expressed a desire to play in New York. The ability to sign in 2019 alongside another marquee free agent may be incredibly tempting.
