Kristaps Porzingis is supposed to be the player to lead the New York Knicks into a new era once their established stars are phased out of the team. After a strong rookie season, Knicks fans were rightfully excited to begin dreaming about how prime Porzingis would impact the franchise.
They need to make sure he's still on the roster to do that, however. With Porzingis in the midst of an overseas trip, the young big man tweeted (and quickly deleted) the name of an NBA franchise on the opposite coast—the Los Angeles Clippers:
There are a million explanations for this tweet, and not all of them are negative. Porzingis has been gallivanting around Barcelona, and there's a decent chance one of his friends grabbed his phone while they were clubbing in the middle of the night, sending a tweet just to mess with people. The explanation Porzingis appears to be going with is in that vein, with his reps claiming he was asleep during the fiasco:
Porzingis tweeted Sunday exactly what you would expect him to say: that he was hacked.
Porzingis is in the midst of a cold war with the Knicks' front office, having skipped the exit meeting he was supposed to have with Knicks president Phil Jackson. Once other teams got wind of his frustration with New York's management, they began inquiring about his availability in trade talks, according to ESPN's Ian Begley.
Porzingis' quickly-deleted tweet, if he wasn't actually hacked, could be another warning shot for Knicks brass. Fans reacted how you might expect—with sheer shock and anger at the prospect of losing a potential franchise player:
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The Clippers could be in the market for a big shake-up this summer after another early playoff exit, so it wouldn't be shocking if they were one of the teams inquiring about Porzingis' availability. It should take a ton for any team to acquire the talented Latvian, but if Porzingis continues to send signs of dissatisfaction, the Knicks will find it harder and harder to deal with the disgruntled star.
Dealing with a disgruntled star whose name isn't Carmelo Anthony is the toughest test yet for Phil Jackson. "How's it goink," indeed.
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