NBA Trade Rumors: 3 perfect landing spots for Kristaps Porzingis

Kristaps Porzingis this year

On paper, it would seem like the Mavericks would be crazy for wanting to move on from Porzingis. He is averaging 20.2 points, 8.1 rebounds,1.4 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game with an effective field goal percentage slightly north of 53 percent. He has had a handful of 20-point games and even a 36-point outburst against the Pelicans. Porzingis is producing quite nicely on a team that’s ranked 10th in Offensive Rating.

Now after seeing those stats you may wonder to yourself why would the Mavericks want to trade a player like that? Well, there are two glaring issues with Porzingis this season. The first issue is his availability has not been very good this season. I’ll refer to a quote by Hall of Fame football player Brian Dawkins who said “the best ability is availability.”

Porzingis has only played in 19 games so far this season out of a possible 33 games. He missed the first nine games at the beginning of the season due to him recovering from a knee injury he sustained in the playoffs last season.

The second issue is Porzingis’s defense. Porzingis’ defensive net rating for the season so far is 119.3 which is the worst defensive net rating in his career. He also is posting a net rating of minus 3.1, also the worst net rating of his career. The biggest knock on him this season would be his lackluster defense.

Possible destinations

Porzingis’ value isn’t extremely high at the moment, but there are a few teams that could use the stretch 5’s services.