Only a few hours after Kristaps Porzingis had requested a trade from the New York Knicks, he was shipped to the up and coming Dallas Mavericks along with Trey Burke, Courtney Lee, and Tim Hardaway Jr. in exchange for DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews, Dennis Smith Jr., and two future first round picks.

This was a massive steal for the Mavericks. They essentially traded a struggling Dennis Smith Jr., expiring contracts, and non-lottery picks for another franchise player to pair alongside their tremendous rookie Luka Doncic. The only downside is that Porzingis won’t be able to play this season due to his injury.

As we all know, Kristaps Porzingis tore his ACL against the Milwaukee Bucks on February 6, 2018, and he ended up missing the second half of that season. It’s very likely that he won’t play at all this season to focus on rehabbing from his injury. Before his injury, however, Porzingis was averaging a career-high 22.7 PPG to lead the team in scoring. Porzingis was thrust into the position as the Knicks’ primary scorer, as an aging Carmelo Anthony was traded in the offseason to the Thunder so they could continue their rebuild.



Since coming into the league, Porzingis has been known as a lengthy big who can space the floor with his ability to hit threes at a high percentage. Pairing him with Luka Doncic is the perfect combo. Luka’s ability to drive and kick and Porzingis’ ability to be a spot-up shooter is going to be extremely hard to guard.

Luka Doncic has been a star from the moment he stepped onto an NBA court. He’s leading all rookies with 20.7 PPG and is second on the Mavericks with 5.4 assists. With the addition of Doncic this year, the Mavericks have already tied their win total from last season with 30 games left to go this season.

These two already have some history together as well. In 2017, Doncic and Porzingis played against each other in a EuroBasket game.

If these two stay healthy, they are going to dominate the pick and roll game for years to come.