After another disappointing season for the New York Knicks, their starting power forward wants to remain competitive in the summer, and he made his intentions known that he “absolutely” would like to play for his home country of Latvia in the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 tournament.

Kristaps Porzingis is expected to announce his official decision when he holds a press conference next week, but he already made it known, via FIBA.com, that he is already looking forward to representing his country. He even discussed what it would mean to him to compete with the favorites in group D, where their team has been included in.

“I would like to help the team get to the second round and have a great campaign.”

“It's a very interesting group, a tough one to be honest. Teams like Serbia and Turkey have a lot of experience, they know how to win in this kind of competition.

“Playing in Istanbul is going to be intense as it's a country and a city that loves basketball. We will need to be ready from day one and play at our best level. We will also need a bit of luck like every team needs in this kind of competition. It would be nice to see the national team play well and I would like to help the team win games.”

Porzingis also proudly talked about how the game of basketball has become more popular in Latvia, and detailed why he thinks their team could give the powerhouses in Europe a run for their money.

“We have good potential and we can have a very competitive national team. Basketball has been growing a lot in my country and I enjoy witnessing it. Some guys are having great seasons and we have some great veterans that can still have a great impact on the national team.”

“Latvia's basketball has been improving a lot the last couple of years. I am very happy to see that kids love this sport and that some of them want to follow in our footsteps and want to be professional basketball players.”

The 7-foot-3 big man had another solid season for the Knicks with averages of 18.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 2.0 blocks per game. If he produces similar numbers or even surpass his averages this year, Latvia will be able to make the tournament even more competitive. It will also allow Porzingis to further establish himself as one of the best international players today, and help him stay in shape during the NBA's offseason.