Put Phil Jackson In Jail And Then Put The Jail In Space

Phil Jackson had millions of sad, tri-state area sphincters clenching after an April presser when he said there was no player on the Knicks who was safe from the trading block. They stayed clenched when Kristaps Porzingis skipped his exit meetings, apparently frustrated after wading through this sewer of a franchise for his two seasons in the NBA. From that point onwards, this felt inevitable:

And amid this frenzy Jackson reportedly met up with a seven-foot, 20-year-old, stretchy Euro prospect who, if a lot of things work out just right, will maybe be as good as the known quantity sitting right under his diaper-sniffing nose.

The one unequivocally good thing Phil Jackson has done in his tenure on the Knicks is draft Kristaps Porzingis. Despite some sophomore stagnation, the 21-year-old still appears bound for superstardom, with a skillset that perfectly tracks where the league is going. This makes it very hard to believe the Knicks would trade him. But! It’s also important to remember that Phil Jackson is a catastrophically bad manager who has deeply alienated his two best players, inked perhaps the single worst contract in the NBA, and continues to desperately mash his players into his fetishized offensive scheme while neglecting their wet-toilet-paper defense.

And then we have this, from ESPN’s Ian Begley:

No one from the Knicks organization has been in touch with Kristaps Porzingis since he skipped exit meetings. Porzingis’ brother, Janis, is frustrated by the lack of communication. “Despite how the Knicks are treating their players, Kris wants to stay in New York. He loves the city and he loves the fans and he wants to win with this team,” Janis Porzingis told ESPN. “If he’s going to be traded, he’s going to play out his contact and decide his future on his own.”

So: Anything is possible.