New York Knicks Place Kristaps Porziņģis on the Trading Block

By Noriel See, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, June 22, 2017

The New York Knicks have a potential franchise building block in Kristaps Porziņģis, but after a rough offseason, the team may seriously consider trading him.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, the Knicks are open to trading Porziņģis and they have been fielding offers from several teams interested in his services.

"Porzingis remains determined to play for the Knicks and see his tenure through to success, sources said, but it has become clearer that Jackson has become increasingly intrigued with testing the trade market for Porzingis. The Knicks haven't been engaging with teams on Porzingis, but that possibility is becoming more intriguing to Jackson between now and Thursday's draft, league sources said," Wojnarowski wrote in his report.

Apparently, the Knicks are already eyeing Arizona's Lauri Markkanen as a potential replacement and they may select him with the eighth overall pick in the draft.

Wojnarowski also said that they are looking for a top-four pick in exchange for Porziņģis because they are interested in drafting Josh Jackson. The Boston Celtics are reportedly one of the teams interested in acquiring him.

Porziņģis' name has come up multiple times in trade rumors this summer. But this time, it's not exactly a rumor because Knicks president Phil Jackson confirmed that they have discussed trading the forward during an interview on "Knicks Night Live."

Meanwhile, fans already think that the Knicks are a mess. But just when they thought that things couldn't possibly get any worse, Sporting News' Sean Deveney came out with a report saying free agents don't want to go to New York anymore because of the team's dysfunction. In fact, an agent reportedly said that the Knicks aren't just alienating their own players, they are alienating all players in the league.

The Knicks have been in the news for all the wrong reasons in the past few months. They will have to find a way to right the ship if they want free agents to consider joining them.