It was slightly more than three years ago that Kevin Durant, already one of basketball’s greatest players and therefore someone whose opinion on talent mattered, declared then-Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis to be “a unicorn” due to his having a rare combination of size and skills.
It would have been hard back then to imagine the team unloading him six weeks ago in a trade to the Dallas Mavericks that seemed designed primarily to create salary-cap space to sign two established stars—one of them Mr. Durant—who would prove more durable and more in sync with Knick management. But a series of injuries and personality clashes made the move inevitable, even if critics thought the Knicks didn’t get full value in exchange.
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