Phil Jackson Foresaw Kristaps Porzingis' Battle With Injury, Says Vet Journalist

Kristaps Porzingis finds himself rebooting anew after he was traded by the Dallas Mavericks to the Washington Wizards before the February 10 deadline.

The name of the 7-foot-3 center has been frequently heard in the trade rumor mill. But for those who followed the career of Porzingis since he entered the league in 2014, there were concerns already raised no less by former New York Knicks executive Phil Jackson.

Someone who witnessed Porzingis as a rookie is American sportswriter Roland Lazenby.

The 70-year-old appeared on the Sports Bytes PH podcast hosted by Filipino journalist Brian Yalung recently and shared some interesting bits.

“Kristaps Porzingis, I was right there in summer league watching him as a rookie. He was like some sleek machine. Just unbelievably tall, able to motor around. Phil Jackson was kind of odd as the executive for the New York Knicks. Word got out that Phil was thinking about trading him as the months rolled on and Kristaps Porzingis looked like a really special player, and he is,” the veteran book author shared.

Lazenby explained how Jackson was wary of tall players, pointing out how they had health issues.

Regardless, Lazenby asserted that this did not sit well or was understood by Knicks and NBA fans at the time.

“Phil Jackson was saying, 'well you know these really tall players, they have health issues.' They always have pretty often these injury problems. And everybody was going ‘what is Phil Jackson saying that for?’ Phil could really throw a wrench with his mind games,” Lazenby recounted.

Ironically, Porzingis suffered one injury after the other. This was a big reason he missed games with the Knicks and the Dallas Mavericks.

Hence, it made it even more difficult to see how Porzingis would fit in with the Mark Cuban-owned team.

Rather than blend in with Luka Doncic, his performance hardly reaped dividends.

“You know in Dallas, Kristaps Porzingis wasn’t really a good fit with Luka [Doncic]. It was thought that he might be he really wasn’t. He was in and out of the lineup so much with injury,” Lazenby pointed out.

Now with the Washington Wizards, Porzingis gets a new lease on life. However, his stay there will still depend on how well he can play and keep himself healthy.

“So Washington gives him a place to start over. Washington is a different place. It almost has a different value system. It will be interesting to see because Porzingis is a fine shooter and I think it will be interesting to see if his game shifts and where it shifts. It may be that it’s a really good thing,” Lazenby ended.