Kristaps Porzingis is finally in a title-contending situation in his career with the Boston Celtics. But finding this situation took time for Porizngis, who’s been through multiple stops in his career, most notably, the Dallas Mavericks as Luka Doncic‘s co-star.
Their partnership didn’t work out and Porzingis was traded in February 2022. While on JJ Redick’s podcast, Porzingis opened up on what went wrong between the pair.
“It’s a big mix of things. Maturity, for sure. Like again, I am talking [about] what I could have done better. And then, I was not that much into analytics and numbers. If somebody, I think, at that stage of my career presented it to me the right way and said, ‘This is what we need to do, this is what we need from you — you are going to be way more effective doing this.’ Like kinda of explaining to me better. I think that would have made the difference a little bit.”
Redick then asked Porzingis if the competition between the two of them to be the No. 1 star in Dallas hurt their relationship.
“Early on, for sure. But I think we both tried to make it work. I think communication and maturity on both our parts should have been better.”
.@kporzee shares the reasons why it didn’t work out in Dallas.
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Porizngis averaged 20.0 points and 8.8 rebounds during his time in Dallas but never made it out of the first round. Funnily, the Mavericks would trade Porzingis as a salary dump for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans in Jason Kidd’s first year as head coach and went on to the Conference Finals that season.
Porzingis had a quiet season-and-a-half in Washington but it allowed him to finally get healthy after injuries kept hurting his momentum in Dallas. He’s still struggling with injuries in Boston, but won’t be expected to carry the load like when he was on the Mavs with Luka.
Kristaps Porzingis Previously Accepted Blame For The Partnership Not Working Out
Porzingis has reflected on his time in Dallas alongside Doncic at various times. He gave an interview during last season where he took accountability for the partnership not working out despite the on-court fit with Luka being ideal.
“It just wasn’t the perfect situation… I thought so too (fit with Luka being perfect), for sure. Yeah, I don’t know. We never played up to that level. And a lot of it’s on me. I could have played better, I think we had glimpses before the bubble and during the bubble where I played at a high level and things were clicking and working well with Luka. Then I got hurt in the bubble and after that, there were a lot of things, but I look at what I could have done better. I can criticize myself looking back. I wasn’t moving as well defensively, my rhythm wasn’t good at parts of the season. I wasn’t playing at the level I was playing at now. Overall, I think sooner or later, [the trade from Dallas] was going to be the result.”
There was fault on both sides, as Doncic never warmed up to Porzingis like he has with teammates like Jalen Brunson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Dwight Powell, and Maxi Kleber. With Porzingis also struggling for health for most of his tenure in Dallas, it’s clear the issues could not be resolved and both players along with the team are better off because the relationship ended.
Unfortunately for Dallas, they still owe the Knicks one first-round pick from the 2019 trade for Porzingis. At this point, Dallas fans may as well look at it as the Tim Hardaway Jr. trade.
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