With New York Knicks star power forward Kristaps Porzingis in the process of making a full recovery from his torn left ACL suffered in early February, head coach Jeff Hornacek is confident that the All-Star will still play a very large role towards free agents signing with the Knicks this offseason.

According to an article written on Friday by Knicks beat reporter Ian Begley of ESPN, coach Hornacek believes the Knicks will receive a lot of consideration from players during free agency this summer because of how much Porzingis brings to a franchise.

“You’ve got to look at, ‘Are we ready next year?’ With KP coming back probably a little later, no. But the pieces are being laid down,” coach Hornacek said. “You have Porzingis, and a lot of guys around the league have talked about wanting to play with him. They know he’s a great player.”

Hornacek also cited the great things that New York City has to offer and the steady development of their younger roster pieces with Porzingis out of the lineup.

“What we were able to do without him this year, getting a lot of guys experience, they see the pieces,” Hornacek said. “And sometimes that’s all it takes is one guy, one year and then another guy another year, and then you’re all right. So I think that’s the selling point. … I think it’s a great city to play in.”

Who will the Knicks be able to pull in free agency this upcoming offseason? Will April be the last month that Hornacek coaches any more games for New York? Time will just have to tell.