Each NBA team’s most devastating injury in franchise history
Most devastating injury in New York Knicks history: Kristaps Porzingis
Now it’s time to discuss the basketball equivalent of J. Jonah Jameson’s laugh in Spider-Man 2, the New York Knicks. Aside from a few playoff appearances here and there, this team has been a portrait of malfeasance for most of the 21st century thanks to that special blend of bad drafts, terrible signings and lopsided trades.
However, 2015 No. 4 overall pick and 7-foot-3-inch unicorn Kristaps Porzingis represented the pot of gold at the end of a dirty, dingy sewer-drenched rainbow. Here was a guy that could shoot threes, do work in the post, get by defenders off the dribble and protect the rim.
Once the aging Carmelo Anthony left to chuck up bricks with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Porzingis got an opportunity to display the full assortment of his skills.
In that third season — his first as the primary option — Porzingis averaged 22.7 points and shot 39.5 percent from 3-point range. While the Knicks were their usual terrible selves, Porzingis flashed enough skills to give Knick fans hope that things would improve as the team built around its young star. Then, this happened.
The torn ACL kept Porzingis out for the rest of the 2017-18 season and all of 2018-19 as well. In that time, the Knicks have done what they’ve always done since the turn of the century: lose. The mounting defeats with no end in sight led to Knicks trading their young star away to the Dallas Mavericks.
But don’t worry, the team already has a new pipe dream to sell to their fanbase: using the two max spots to potentially nab Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant and pair them with first overall pick Zion Williamson. Good luck with that!