Only a little more than a year ago, former New York Knicks president Phil Jackson was willing to part ways with his very own hand-picked star, the unicorn Kristaps Porzingis, after the aforementioned's missed exit interviews following a reported rift with the front office's handling of Carmelo Anthony.

The Phoenix Suns were reportedly ready to pounce on the opportunity, but the Knicks drove a hard bargain, asking for the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

“Last year, I thought Phoenix had a chance to get Porzingis if they were willing to put the fourth pick in, which would’ve been Josh Jackson,” ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said during an appearance in The Ryen Russillo Show. “Looking back, at the time, I kinda thought I would have done that. If I could get Porzingis to play with, and I didn’t have to give up Devin Booker, there was no one in that draft up there that… I would’ve gotten Porzingis. But I understood they were careful, they still believe in Josh Jackson, and Porzingis wasn’t super enthusiastic about Phoenix and what his future would’ve been there. They wanna be able to re-sign him, so I get showing some restraint there.”

Apparently, the potential trade was a lot more than mere hesitation to trade the pick, but Porzingis being unlikely to re-sign with the team, which obviously factored into their decision.

Jackson had a much better second half of the season after being played out of position for most of the 2017-18 campaign, now hopeful to repay that faith coming into this 2018-19 season.