New York Knicks Take Steps to Fix Relationship With Kristaps Porziņģis
This is going to be another tumultuous offseason for the New York Knicks and it's filled with drama and uncertainty.
A lot of people have already anointed Kristaps Porziņģis as the franchise's future star. However, his relationship with the Knicks president, Phil Jackson, took a hit recently when he decided to skip his exit meeting two weeks ago because he was reportedly frustrated with the team's lack of direction.
Sure, he has eased some fears by telling the media that he loves the city of New York, but then he continued to defy the team by announcing that he's suiting up for Latvia at EuroBasket this summer.
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Ever since he was drafted in 2015, the Knicks had asked him not to take part in international competitions. Now, he has decided that he wasn't going to listen to Knicks management.
There's clearly a rift between the Latvian and the Knicks, but the team has decided to give in and allow Porziņģis to play at EuroBasket as long as Knicks assistant Joshua Longstaff is allowed to join the national team and work with Porziņģis.
That should help repair the strained relationship between the forward and the team.
"While Kristaps Porziņģis may have lost faith in the direction of his team, the Latvian certainly believes in Knicks assistant Joshua Longstaff," Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News said in his report.
"In fact, a source close to Porzingis said the power forward wants Longstaff as an assistant coach with the Latvian national team this summer. It would be a relatively small commitment from Longstaff for the European championships — a tournament that only lasts a few weeks — and makes sense from the Knicks perspective to have one of their own monitoring Porzingis overseas," he continued.
Longstaff will be there to make sure that Porziņģis isn't overworked during his stint with the Latvian National Team.
Now the Knicks can concentrate on the other issue at hand: What to do with Carmelo Anthony.
