Mario Hezonja signed with the Portland Trail Blazers this offseason after being rebuffed by the New York Knicks following a one-season stint with them.
Now, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post, Hezonja would have been open to returning to the Knicks had they called him in the offseason and expressed their interest in him.
Unfortunately for Mario, the call never came. In the end, he chose to join the Blazers, a team fresh from a Western Conference Finals appearance in 28-19.
“That free agency was ‘call me and I’m coming back (to the Knicks),'” Hezonja said. “I don’t care (that) there’s a lot of perception people make about playing in New York. But I had never had problems with you guys (media). Media was great always great. Everyone from the front office was great to me. Fans are the best in the world. If you don’t feel their support, what the hell. I loved every single thing about my entire time out there. It didn’t work out in the summer.”
Hezonja played a fairly important role with the Knicks last season, and he even produced multiple highlights — one of which was sealing a win over the Los Angeles Lakers with a block on LeBron James. The Croatian forward also yammed on MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo then stepped over him in disrespectful fashion.
That’s a lot of cojones for a former No. 5 overall pick that’s averaging 7.1 points per game in his career, but that level of confidence is fairly impressive.
Hezonja has played 21 games for the Blazers this season, starting four of them to help patch up the team's depleted frontcourt.
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