The Kristaps Porzingis Trade: A Six-Year Retrospective

Man, six years went by fast.

How times change.

January 31 had been burned in my brain for years. That date, plus March 13th, is burned in my memory as the two most mortifying days of the younger me’s sports fandom. Both were in 2019.

March 13th, 2019, for those who don’t know, was the day the Giants traded Odell Beckham Jr, a cornerstone of my Giants fandom.

January 31, 2019, was infamous for a different team. I was walking home from school that day when I saw a Woj tweet pop up on my phone.

At 1:44, a story dropped about Porzingis meeting with management, voicing his frustration at a horrific Knicks team.

At 2:54, just before I got out, he wanted to be traded:

At 3:38, he was gone.

In two hours, Porzingis went from the beacon of light that the Knicks hoped to pair with a star and a high draft pick to being a Dallas Maverick.

Yesterday was the six-year anniversary of the trade. Unlike previous years, I didn’t know it when it came. The Knicks are so far removed from the trade and have turned their roster over several times. With the progress we’ve made, it’s become a footnote.

Last year, I made a retrospective as a FanPost prior to becoming an official writer here. Since then, the Knicks have turned their roster over again and completed the trade. Where does it stand now? In a rare twist of fate, this seems to have a happy ending for all involved.

The Trade

Knicks Receive: G Dennis Smith Jr., G/F Wesley Matthews, C DeAndre Jordan, 2021 DAL 1st, 2023 DAL 1st (Top 10 Protected)

Mavericks Receive: F Kristaps Porzingis, G Tim Hardaway Jr., G Courtney Lee, G Trey Burke

At the time (and still today) this was a light return. Porzingis was an all-star in 2018, shooting 40% from 3 while averaging 2.4 blocks a night, elevating a terrible Knicks team to competency before tearing his ACL and ending his tenure here in February.

Two first-round picks, with the second being protected? That’s it? The front office basically wanted a clean slate and a juicy $74 million in offseason cap space to sign some of the stars hitting the market: Kemba Walker, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard. Two max slots, right Kyrie?

The Mavericks’ Side

When you find a guy like Luka Doncic, the guard you drafted a year before becomes quite irrelevant. Doncic was in the midst of a stellar rookie season where he averaged 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 6.0 assists before winning Rookie of the Year. Pairing this star European guard with a star European forward was a dream with Dirk Nowitzki retiring after the season.

The pair immediately became one of the most promising duos in the NBA, even if Porzingis took his time recovering from his ACL tear, missing the entire 2018-19 season.

As for the other three involved, Trey Burke was a relatively unnecessary throw-in, who was enjoying a minor resurgence as a Knick, with his 42-point effort after Porzingis’ injury in 2018 still being a fun memory of the dark days in Knicks history.

Burke would play 25 games for Dallas in a bench role before signing with Philadelphia in the offseason. As fate would have it, Burke would return and play eight games in the bubble for the 2020 Mavs before playing another 104 games over the next two seasons. As a Maverick, Burke would playb a total of 137 games, averaging 7.0 points and 1.7 assists on 43/35/87 splits before he was dealt after 2021-22 and has been stuck in the G-League since.

Courtney Lee was a throw-in for salary, being on the backend of a questionable four-year, $48 million contract. This wiped $12.76m off the books for next season. At this point, he had only played 12 games for the Knicks that season and the 33-year-old would only have 46 more NBA games in him, playing out the string and playing his last NBA game on the day the league shut down in March 2020, although overshadowed by Vince Carter’s final game.

Tim Hardaway Jr. was by far the longest lasting member in the trade. After signing a questionable four-year, $70 million pact in 2017, he was dealt midway through the season to finalize the Knicks’ cap space in the offseason. Hardaway would sign a four-year extension in 2020 and would continue to be a solid 15 PPG off the bench on 37% from 3, getting Sixth Man of the Year votes twice. Hardaway was dealt for Quentin Grimes in the offseason, which is an interesting full circle moment if you stick around.

Now, about Porzingis. In the offseason following the trade, he inked a $150 million contract extension.

Porzingis would debut in October 2019 and would put together a solid first season before tearing his meniscus in the bubble. He was exceptional in the bubble, averaging 31 and 10.

He missed 29 games in 2020-21, but averaged 20 PPG for the second straight season. Porzingis struggled badly in the first round matchup against the Clippers and after two early playoff exits, his fit with Doncic was questioned.

Dallas just would not hit their ceiling with their group of Doncic, Porzingis, and up-and-coming guard Jalen Brunson (whatever happened to him?).

After Porzingis shot sub-30% from 3 in a dreadful first half of the 2021-22 season, Dallas pulled the plug and traded him to Washington for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. A $150 million man, flipped for role players.

Bertans was a filler backup big man that ate up cap space before he was traded with Cason Wallace for Dereck Lively II on Draft Night 2023. That 2023 Dallas pick is relevant.

Dinwiddie would slide into the guard rotation alongside Doncic and Brunson, averaging 16 PPG on 50/40/73. He would have a good playoff run, shooting 41.7% from deep in the 21-22 postseason. He would be flipped to Brooklyn the next offseason in the trade that got Kyrie Irving in Dallas.

Dallas got a Finals run out of all of this, even if Porzingis was long gone after this. Not a bad outcome.

The Knicks’ Side

The fallout from trading a star is never pretty. The carcass of the 2018-19 Knicks finished 17-65, worst in the NBA. They were set up to draft generational draft prospect Zion Williamson.

But first, they sorted through the players. Wesley Matthews played checks notes two games as a Knick. He scored fourteen points in 54 minutes before being bought out and signing with Indiana. Forgettable.

DeAndre Jordan was the new #6 (you think they respected Porzingis?). The former Clippers’ All-Star was also an expiring contract and continued his slow decline from All-Star to role player averaging 11 and 11 on 63.4% from the field before signing with the Nets as part of the “clean sweep”. Did you know he has the NBA record for career FG%?

The Knicks’ plan was simple. Draft Zion. Sign two All-Stars. Turn this puppy around.

Oh.

Oh.

Well, damn.

The Knicks had $74 million in cap space and the worst record in the NBA and not only struck out on all four big free agents, but got the third pick. They settled on a variety of guys like Marcus Morris, Bobby Portis, Julius Randle, and Elfrid Payton to join draftee RJ Barrett. An unmitigated disaster.

However, it slowly became a blessing.

While the Clean Sweep Nets got stuck in injuries and controversies, and were eventually demolished, the Knicks turned everything around in 2021 behind an All-Star leap for Julius Randle and solid vet play from guys like Payton, Taj Gibson, and Reggie Bullock.

But wait, there’s more. Two more pieces of that 2021 breakthrough squad came from this trade!

Marcus Morris, who’s spurned the Spurs to sign with the Knicks and delivered a great moment in Porzingis’ MSG return, was traded at the deadline for LA’s 2020 1st and Detroit’s 2021 2nd.

Through draft-day dealing by new executive Leon Rose, that extra first was turned into Immanuel Quickley, a future All-Rookie 2nd Team and runner-up in Sixth Man of the Year voting. Quickley was an elite sixth man for the Knicks from 2020-23 before he was flipped to the Toronto Raptors as the centerpiece in a deal for OG Anunoby.

In the 2020 Draft Night wheeling-and-dealing that got them IQ, they also got a 2023 2nd that became James Nnaji, who was traded and eventually re-acquired by the Knicks.

The 2021 Detroit 2nd was used to select Villanova big Jeremiah Robinson-Earl at 32nd overall. He was flipped two minutes later for Eurostash Rokas Jokubaitis and current Knicks’ sixth man Deuce McBride.

One man I haven’t mentioned yet is Dennis Smith Jr, the player centerpiece. He was considered by the Knicks when they drafted Frank Ntilikina in 2017, but now they had both.

After he averaged 14.7/5.4/2.8 on horrific shooting after the deadline, his usage collapsed and he was entrenched as a bust. He lingered on the roster through the start of 2020-21 before being dealt, alongside a 2021 CHA 2nd, for Derrick Rose.

So, just through the players, the Knicks got Randle, Quickley, Deuce, and D-Rose. Cool! What about the two firsts?

The 2021 1st was cut-and-dry. The 21st overall pick was traded on Draft Night (classic Leon) for Quentin Grimes and a 2024 DET 2nd. Grimes was a promising 3-and-D wing that fell into and out of favor in New York before being flipped at the 2023 Trade Deadline for Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic.

Bogdanovic would then be the monetary centerpiece for… Mikal Bridges.

And that second-round pick? Traded with Quickley and RJ Barrett for OG Anunoby.

The 2023 pick was a tragic tale. A terrible initial fit between Doncic and Irving led to the 2023 Mavericks tanking to keep their Top 10 protected pick, eventually leading to them getting Dereck Lively II as a piece to their 2024 Finals run. Typical.

That pick turned into the 24th overall pick in a weaker 2024 NBA Draft, which was traded for 26 and 51 in typical Leon Rose fashion.

51 was flipped for 58 (Ariel Hukporti) and $1 million.

26 was flipped for five seconds, with one of them being used with two we already had to trade back into the 2nd Round for Tyler Kolek.

And, as we know, Julius Randle was traded for Karl-Anthony Towns. Nice!

In the end, a disaster of an initial trade turned into something that shaped the current Knicks roster in several ways through trades, signings, and draft picks. A lot of the players we enjoy today can be traced back in some way to a franchise-altering move in 2019.

And Porzingis?

Despite injuries cutting him down in Dallas and Washington, Porzingis was sent in a steal of a trade to the Celtics ahead of the 2023-24 season. He would continue to battle injuries, but Porzingis would be a great complimentary piece to a death star of a team, winning his first championship.

In the end, he might be the biggest winner in a trade that has no loser.