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The Unicorn hasn’t taken flight since January 2018, but that didn’t stop the Dallas Mavericks from inking Kristaps Porzingis to a max five-year, $158.25 million deal as a restricted free agent in July.

The Mavericks picked up Porzingis in a blockbuster trade from the New York Knicks on Jan. 31, sending former first-round pick Dennis Smith Jr., with a 2021 first-round pick and a top-10 protected 2023 first-rounder to New York to land him.

Porzingis didn’t play at all last season as he recovered from a torn ACL in his left knee sustained the previous January, shortly after he had been named to his first All-Star Game.

His reputation didn’t escape Manhattan without taking some hits, too, with the perception that he forced his way out of New York being closely followed by allegations from a woman that Porzingis sexually assaulted her in 2018.

Through his attorney, Porzingis denied the allegations and his attorney told CNN it was an extortion attempt by the alleged victim.

The last time Porzingis played in 2017-18, he averaged 22.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in 32.4 minutes per game over 48 starts for the Knicks, shooting 43.9 percent overall and a career-high 39.5 percent on 4.8 3-point attempts per game.

Porzingis is still very thin at 7-foot-3 and 240 pounds, though he has bulked up during his lengthy rehab process.

If healthy, he gives Dallas a rim protector it hasn’t had in a long time and he seems to have the ideal skill set to take advantage of the playmaking skills of Rookie of the Year Luka Doncic.

The questions will be how quickly Porzingis can work off the rust and whether he can stay healthy for a full season. He missed 10 games with various ailments as a rookie and sat out 16 games in 2016-17.