Kristaps Porzingis Avoided Philadelphia 76ers Before Draft, Preferred New York Knicks

Kristaps Porzingis is used to making headlines by what he does on an NBA court, but the New York Knicks rookie has now been accused of avoiding the Philadelphia 76ers before the draft because he and his agent, Andy Miller, did not want the Latvian native to end up with the hapless franchise, according CBS Sports.

Prior to the NBA Draft last summer, Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie, much like most of the other managing executives in the league, was quite curious about Kristaps Porzingis, as his combination of size, athleticism and outside shooting had never been seen before.

Standing at seven-foot, three-inches, and possibly still growing because he is only 20-years-old, Kristaps Porzingis is able to alter and block shots because of his lean body and desire to play defense, but he can also step behind the three point line to knock down a precisely aimed shot.

The Minnesota Timberwolves did their due diligence on checking out Kristaps Porzingis, but they had their hearts set on the more polished Karl Anthony Towns, the seven-foot, 250-pound center that dominated NCAA men’s basketball for a season as a member of the extremely loaded and talented Kentucky Wildcats, led by John Calipari.

The Los Angeles Lakers owned the second overall pick in the NBA Draft, and while they worked out Kristaps Porzingis and showed interested, team owner Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak opted to draft Ohio State Buckeyes guard D’Angelo Russell because they felt that he would be able to produce much quicker so that Kobe Bryant could have help chasing that elusive sixth championship.

Since they were not able to meet with or workout Kristaps Porzingis, Sam Hinkie and the Philadelphia 76ers had no choice but to draft Duke Blue Devils center Jahlil Okafor, a move that they might be regretting right now because they are concerned about his maturity issues after several off-court incidents created headlines early on in his rookie season.

Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks must have been grinning ear to ear when Kristaps Porzingis dropped into their laps, as the blame for taking what was viewed as a high risk would have been softened by the fact that the team could use the excuse that Karl Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell, and Jahlil Okafor were already off the board when it was their turn to choose.

Since a lot of sports fans are fickle, there is a good chance that this accusation might cause the massively high popularity of Kristaps Porzingis, who not only entertains basketball fans and sells a ridiculous amount of jerseys, but has given hope to long suffering New York Knicks fans, to drastically sink from its current level.

It will also be interesting to see how Kristaps Porzingis reacts to the situation, but those that have followed him closely during his first season in the NBA have already witnessed him saying and doing all of the right things since the moment that he had to suffer through an endless round of boos from the draft audience that immediately deemed him a bust.

Kristaps Porzingis would not be the first professional athlete to force his way towards a certain destination, so if he wants people to quickly forget the accusation, then he needs to focus on doing everything he can possibly do to help Carmelo Anthony get the New York Knicks back into the NBA Playoffs, preferably this season.

Of course, there’s also going to be a sector of the NBA fan base that would totally understand why no one wants to play for the Philadelphia 76ers.

[Featured Photo by Elsa/Getty Images]