New York Knicks, dumpster fire

First, they booed Kristaps Porzingis after his name was called with the fourth pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Then, he won their hearts.

And now, he’s gone.

After factoring in seven years of up-and-down play by Carmelo Anthony in New York and only five winning seasons since the beginning of the new millennium, Porzingis told the Knicks’ front office he doesn’t believe they are forming a winning culture.

That’s no shocker. Knicks center Enes Kanter, their highest paid player by far who has recorded multiple 20 point-20 rebound games, literally kissed the floor on Jan. 30 after coaches gave him 9 minutes of playing time.

A man the Knicks are paying 20 million dollars to play basketball got on his hands and knees to thank God that he finally gets to play basketball. That’s absurd.

The Knicks have lost 19 of their past 20 games, yet apparently their front office is delusional enough to believe that Porzingis would feel comfortable returning to a team that forgot what it felt like to win.

So, an hour after he expressed his concerns, Porzingis and some teammates were dealt to the Dallas Mavericks for former All-Star Deandre Jordan and Wesley Matthews, good players on expiring deals, and Dennis Smith Jr., a potential star with incredible athleticism. Hours after the trade was announced and final negotiations were complete, the Knicks had forced the Mavericks to lump in two first-round picks.

Those picks could provide a lot of value. But drafting an unknown player from a country most New Yorkers couldn’t find on a map and then having him become the new NBA big man prototype isn’t likely to happen again.

Particularly for the Knicks, whose history with building around first-round draft picks is shaky at best.

In 2011, they sent their highest pick in 30 years, Danilo Gallinari, to Denver in the Carmelo Anthony deal (Gallinari is currently lighting it up with the L.A. Clippers). In 2013, they drafted Tim Hardaway Jr., traded him in 2015, then resigned him in free agency two seasons later, only to include him in the Porzingis trade to Dallas this season.

No, the Knicks struck gold a single time, with Porzingis, raising fans’ hopes just high enough to be dashed yet again a few years later.

Theoretically, the Porzingis trade was about freeing $70 million in cap space in order to sign two max-deal stars this off-season.

New York is a big market. It lures talent. It’s a place for champions. At least, that’s what New York-based sportscasters say.

The Knicks’ track record says otherwise.

As of late, it looks like a place where dreams go to die. Ask Joakim Noah. Or Amar’e Stoudemire. Or, of course, Carmelo Anthony, whose championship hopes died such a violent death that he said all he wants now is happiness.

Worse for the Knicks, the Clippers, the Brooklyn Nets (who may both make the playoffs this year), and the Chicago Bulls will also have a ton of cap space.

Oh, and don’t forget the Los Angeles Lakers, who are offering the chance for a star to partner with LeBron James.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are two players who have expressed some interest in New York — but, given the Knicks’ public history of mismanagement, star players will demand guarantees that they will have some say in how the team is run.

This is unlikely to solve the team’s issues. Even if the Knicks get what exactly what they want in free agency, they will sign two stars who each believe they know best. Irving soured on playing second fiddle to LeBron in Cleveland. Now the Knicks think he and Durant would be a great match?

But this assumes either player would want to sign with the Knicks. No championship-hungry NBA player thought the Knicks were being shrewd and decisive when they traded away their star an hour after he raised a complaint. Indeed, judging from the response by players on Twitter, it only further solidified the Knicks’ place as the laughingstock of the NBA.

The NBA is more fun when the Knicks are playing well. For the sake of those heartbroken fans in their garish blue and orange jerseys, let’s hope they can land a star.

If they don’t, that pall over Madison Square Garden will continue to hang.

Mark Naida is editorial page fellow at the Detroit News.