In the Hot Seat: Kristaps Porzingis

Back in the old days if a team drafted a player, they were guaranteed to get some quality years out of him - at least to the fulfillment of his rookie contract - as long as he proved talented enough.  But today's NBA isn't like that.  You have dudes who are dumb talented, but their bodies cannot endure the continuous rigors of playing multiple NBA seasons, even from very early in their careers.

For instance, there was a moment in time where I was predicting that Kristaps Porzingis may even end up better than Lebron James.  But one of the things that makes Lebron great, as with Jordan who preceded him, is the ability to actually stay on the court.

A couple of days ago at the Mavs' game, there was Kristaps Porzingis chillin' on the sideline in a sweater or polo shirt or some shit.  He's dumb tall, so he stands out amongst the rest of the roster.  And I'm sitting there watching the Mavs outplay teams who are like more talented than they are and thinking to myself, 'man, what is Kristaps could also suit up and play?'

If I remember correctly, he left NY having beef with the organization.  Meanwhile, back in his healthy days, he was being heralded as the franchise player and savior of the ever-disappointing Knicks.  And regardless of what kinds of nasty things may have been relayed from one party to the next, you have to believe that if he were healthy enough to steadily contribute that there wouldn't have been that much beef.

So now he's off to the Wizards, which isn't totally a bad thing having a team consisting of Beal, Kuzma and Porzingis.  But damn, when is Kristaps even coming back?  And then, how many games will the Wizards get out of him before he's hurt again?

CONCLUSION

I personally feel as if Porzingis's career is pretty much over.  No disrespect to David Bertans and Spencer Dinwiddie, but he was never supposed to be in a situation where he can get traded for those dudes in the first place.  And both of them may end up prospering in the Mavericks' system, which is very wing/guard dependent.

I was finna to look up how much money Kristaps has made in his career, but just the fact that he's still owed $30mil+(!) is tons more money than most of us will ever see.  So I mean of course the Wizards or whatever team he may end up with next will have him on the bench and may give him some run or whatever.  But I wouldn't be completely surprised if this current contract proves to the last of his NBA career.  He'd probably be better off playing in a less physically stressful European league anyway.