New York Knicks: Kristaps Porzingis trade means uncertain future for Knicks

The New York Knicks and Kristaps Porzingis are no more. After reports broke that Porzingis was reportedly unhappy with the state of the team, the Knicks traded him to the Dallas Mavericks. But what does it mean for the future?

The New York Knicks and star forward Kristaps Porzingis have gone their separate ways.

Porzingis voiced his concern of the current state of the Knicks and where they were headed, and then a couple of hours later Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that he had been dealt to Dallas.

If you ask me the Knicks got just about nothing in return for a guy who was supposed to be their franchise player, but that is in a way what the Knicks wanted.

Here are the full details:

Trading Porzingis was clearly a move in effort to clear cap space for free agents who will hit the open market come July.

Players such as Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Kemba Walker and Khris Middleton will all be free agents this upcoming offseason.

With this being said. the Knicks made this move in an effort to clear cap space to potentially get as many of these All-Stars as possible.

But, how likely is it that any of these players really want to sign with a team that currently has the worst record in the NBA?

Not very likely right now, but it is for sure possible.

Kyrie has been linked to playing for one of his hometown teams in New York for years now and it would definitely make sense if the five-time All-Star ended up playing for the Knicks.

Back before the season started, Irving made a promise to Celtics fans that he would sign back with the team when he became a free agent, but even that is starting to look a bit cloudy.

It was reported earlier this week that Irving could potentially sign with the Lakers to reunite with Lebron James. And should the Lakers get Anthony Davis,  which is actually likely, Los Angeles would be a place many players would want to go in hopes of getting a ring.

As for the other five players that I mentioned earlier, the only one the Knicks really have any chance of getting is Klay Thompson.

I personally don’t expect to see Kevin Durant land anywhere other than potentially Golden State or Los Angeles, but again, it’s not impossible.

As for Kawhi Leonard, it is seeming more likely each day that he stays where he is in Toronto with the success they’re having this season, and Kemba Walker has said on multiple occasions that he wants to stay put in Charlotte, even with their lack of success.

Khris Middleton will also likely stay put as he and Giannis Antetokounmpo are having a great season together with Middleton making his first career All-Star Game.

So, we are left with only Klay Thompson. It is very likely that Thompson plays his home games somewhere other than Golden State next year seeing they will need to pick between Thompson and Durant, plus they just signed Steph Curry to a humongous contract.

If you’re picking between Kevin Durant and Thompson you go with Durant every time. However, Thompson may in fact be looking for a new team and he is still an outstanding player.

It will, however, be very difficult to sway just one big time free agent to New York seeing where the Knicks currently are with their 10-40 record, and they just got even worse.

Without any all-stars, or even noteworthy players on the roster other than young guns Kevin Knox, Allonzo Trier and Mitchell Robinson, no big time players will want to join the Knicks unless they pitch them a package with another big time player.

This trade is a big deal and it’s going to effect the Knicks for a long time coming.