PORZINGIS FELT ALIENATED within the organization, and Fizdale knew his past Gasol saga loomed over a potential partnership.
Porzingis was rehabilitating his torn left ACL in Europe, with an expectation that he could miss all of Fizdale's first season with the Knicks. Regardless of whether the Knicks ever recruited a superstar free agent, Fizdale believed he had an anchor player who could keep the franchise competitive.
Porzingis felt an initial connection with Fizdale, only to return for the start of training camp and find a new set of frustrations. There were disagreements on everything from windows of time for Porzingis' rehab at the Knicks' facility to whether the franchise considered his presence a positive in its pursuit of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in free agency, sources said.
The Knicks began gauging interest in Porzingis early in 2019. According to sources, New York offered the New Orleans Pelicans a package centered around Porzingis in exchange for forward Anthony Davis. But former Pelicans general manager Dell Demps showed little interest in that discussion, and the Knicks took that as an indication that interest in Porzingis might not be as high league-wide.
Porzingis and his brother, Janis, who serves as his agent, had planned to meet with management to discuss his future in January. Once the Porzingis brothers found out that the Knicks were discussing a trade with the Dallas Mavericks, sources said, they hurried a meeting the next morning and asked to be moved to one of four destinations: the Nets, Clippers, Raptors or Heat.
The meeting was brief, and the Knicks agreed to terms with Dallas before the brothers had returned from the suburbs to their Manhattan home.
Even with the ACL injury, Porzingis commanded significant interest around the NBA -- and dozens of teams were confused about why they never had a chance to bid on him.
But the details of the trade -- bringing back marginal players, unloading salaries for cap space and acquiring two first-round draft picks -- suggested one of two things to NBA rivals: The Knicks knew absolutely that they were getting Durant or Irving in free agency, or they knew absolutely nothing about executing a franchise-changing trade.
That's when, in spring 2019, owner James Dolan went on ESPN New York and boasted, "New York is the mecca of basketball. We hear from people, from players, from representatives about who wants to come. From what we've heard, I think we're going to have a very successful offseason when it comes to free agency."
Durant's father, Wayne Pratt, and business partner, Rich Kleiman, were self-professed Knicks fans, and players around the league gossiped about Durant going to New York with the same kind of certainty with which they'd talked about him joining the Warriors in 2016.
The Knicks also had the best odds of any team to win the NBA lottery and the chance to draft Duke star Zion Williamson.
They were well-positioned. But they misread one critical component: Durant's willingness to come without Irving. Initially, the Knicks were an option for both Durant and Irving. But Irving's fondness for the Nets, the team he grew up rooting for in New Jersey, was a critical factor, as was the recruiting effort of Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie, who befriended Irving in September 2018, when they both took a class with Harvard Business School Professor Anita Elberse.
Since being teammates in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Irving, Durant and DeAndre Jordan had talked often about playing together one day. The only question was where.
Irving pushed the Nets as a destination, selling his two friends on the Nets' culture, their front-office savvy and the chance to make history with a franchise on the rise.
The Knicks' hopes rested on Durant selling his friends on playing together at the Garden or choosing to play for the Knicks and bringing another star, such as Kawhi Leonard or Kemba Walker, with him.
Although Durant did strongly consider the Knicks, according to sources close to the situation, he never pushed them the way Irving pushed Brooklyn.
"The Knicks players, they're good, young players, but they still need more experience to match where I was in my career," Durant told former teammate Serge Ibaka in October. "It was nothing major against the Knicks. I just think Brooklyn is further along in the process of being a contender."
Perry and Mills advocated for a bold pursuit and contract offer, despite the risks associated with Durant's Achilles tendon rupture. Dolan was leery of that plan, however, after his experiences with players with injury histories, such as Amar'e Stoudemire.
In the end, it was a moot point. Durant decided to go with Irving and Jordan to Brooklyn. Kleiman informed Dolan directly, right as free agency opened.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28261417/lost-stars-lack-leadership-fleeting-hope-knicks
