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On Thursday, the New York Knicks dealt their injured star player Kristaps Porzingis in an 7-player package to the Dallas Mavericks. Among those headed to New York is veteran center DeAndre Jordan, who will reportedly be a regular part of head coach David Fizdale's rotation.
This bit of news, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, frustrated their own veteran center, Enes Kanter, who has long been in Fiz's dog house.
Fizdale says DeAndre Jordan, 30, will play for Knicks.
"I'm giving up my minutes just bc the young guys can get better," Enes Kanter said. "I'm 26. I think the guys that came are older than me right? So I don't know what that means. I don't know, man. I think it's disrespectful"— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) February 2, 2019
The Knicks have glued Kanter to the bench ever since the franchise committed to tanking out the season. The big man's minutes have dwindled over the past two months and he has completely fallen off David Fizdale's rotation.
With this tanking going on, New York is looking to give more minutes to the younger guys, such as second round pick Mitchell Robinson and Noah Vonleh. The move to play the young prospects did not sit well with the 6-foot-11, 250-lb. big man. Still, he continues to be professional about it and understood the need for it.
Now, with Deandre Jordan reportedly sticking around with the team for the rest of the season, Kanter feels disrespected. It's easy to understand why the Turkish center feels this way.
The Knicks are committed to a youth movement, yet Fizdale will still play Jordan, who will turn 31 in July. This is contradictory to their priority to give their young players more experience. Hence, their decision to stick with Jordan, who is four years older than Kanter, is definitely questionable.
Nonetheless, this is certainly a bad way to manage a relationship, especially with one of the team's crowd favorites. The Knicks have added the Turkish big man, along with Porzingis of course, to the list of disgruntled players who grew tired of New York.
This is something that future free agents will certainly look into when considering New York as a potential destination, especially since the blockbuster Porzingis trade was primarily done to clear cap space for two max free agents this off-season.
