The Dallas Mavericks’ decision to unload Kristaps Porzingis onto the Washington Wizards sent massive reverberations throughout the league.
It was arguably the second-biggest move of the NBA trade deadline and served as a confirmation of all the rumors about the beef that existed between both Porzingis and the Mavs as well as his and Luka Doncic’s alleged mutual dislike of one another.
Interestingly enough, Porzingis almost got dealt somewhere else.
Apparently, the Toronto Raptors were a legitimate contender for his services.
During an episode of The Lowe Post podcast, ESPN NBA insider Tim MacMahon revealed the real reason Toronto ultimately passed on Porzingis.
“They tried to trade him to Toronto,” he said. “My understanding is their discussions there were Dragic and Gary Trent. Toronto understandably said ‘We’re not giving up Gary Trent Jr.’
“So the Washington thing came together. And the Mavericks basically got to the point of ‘Hey, financially it’s a wash, but it’s two smaller contracts that would be easier to move.’ And they felt K.P. was kind of in the way and those two guys could fill roles off the bench, so they pulled the trigger as soon as they found a deal where they didn’t have to give up a first round pick. A lot of that was the fit with K.P. wasn’t there. It doesn’t mean Porzingis necessarily did anything wrong. The Mavericks took a huge swing and a miss on him. It didn’t work out.
“Ultimately, I do think there’s a ceiling on a one-star team. You have to go all the way back, ironically, to the Dirk Mavericks to find a one-star NBA champion. But you know, if there’s a guy who is going to do it, it’s a dude like Luka.”
In the end, Porzingis may have ended up exactly where he needed to be.
Will Porzingis ultimately be able to rewrite the narrative regarding his career during this stint with the Wizards?
Time will tell.
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