NEW YORK — On the night that completely changed the direction of the Knicks, Kristaps Porzingis thought he could still play.
He had just landed awkwardly on the Madison Square Garden floor, and there was a sharp pain in his right knee after a snap. But then Porzingis felt fine.
“I actually tried to get back in game,” he said Thursday on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
The Knicks wisely refused and ordered an MRI. Porzingis then left the arena on crutches and informed his family members that the injury was minor. He thought the All-Star game in two weeks was still likely.
“They were like, ‘Great, great, because we were scared,’ ” Porzingis said. “Then an hour later when I get the images and the doctors looked at it and told me I tore my ACL, it was like, it was such a weird feeling. You see that stuff happening to players, but you never think it’s going to be you. It was a weird feeling that went through my body. A terrible, terrible feeling. So after they told me, I was just devastated. And I was like, ‘All right, this happened, I can’t go back and change it now and whatever is next, I’m looking forward to it now. And whatever I can do to get back on the court. That was my mindset.”
Porzingis never played another game with the Knicks. A lack of faith and trust in the organization and team president Steve Mills, in particular, was never repaired. On the other side, Mills wasn’t convinced Porzingis is a franchise star and instead saw him as a conduit to cap space for Kevin Durant and a friend. The Knicks negotiated a deal with the Mavericks before Porzingis requested a trade in January of 2019.
Then the Knicks crumbled. They struck out in free agency. Then they fired David Fizdale and Mills.
Porzingis, meanwhile, rediscovered his game in Dallas after 18 months away rehabbing his knee. If this season is over because of the coronavirus pandemic, he ended it on a high note as the Western Conference Player of the Week on March 2. The 24-year-old averaged 19.2 points and 9.5 rebounds over 51 games.
“I was really getting into a good rhythm. I think it took me a few months to adjust to a lot of things. Not only coming back from an injury, but getting used a to a new organization, a new coach, a new system, playing alongside a guy like Luka (Doncic),” Porzingis said. “All those things played a factor. I felt like I was playing really good basketball. But there are always going to be ups and downs. The main thing is that I have a clear mind on what I want to achieve and keep going in that direction and just keep growing as a player.”
Porzingis, who signed a five-year, $158 million contract, said he immediately recognized a different culture in Dallas.
“The main thing for me has always been winning and as soon as I arrived you could see little things, little details, how they did things that were different,” he said. “And probably each organization has their own way of doing things, their own culture, and arriving here it was a transition year. Dirk was finishing his career and we were looking into the future, into the next season, and this is our first year together. And I feel like we’re just getting started. And we have the confidence that we have the right people around us that we can go far.”
The Mavericks were a pleasant surprise this season with a 40-27 record before the shutdown, good for seventh in the Western Conference. Their progression is especially important to the Knicks, who own Dallas’ first-round picks in 2021 and 2022.
Before the shutdown, Porzingis was preparing for the first NBA playoffs of his career. He’s hopeful for a resumption but also understands there’s time to make up whatever’s lost.
“At the end this is much bigger than an NBA season or sports in general. So of course I would’ve loved — and hopefully we still do it, to get that first playoff experience,” Porzingis said. “Whatever happens, I still have a lot of time in my career to still achieve that.”
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