Kristaps Porzingis played his first game against the Dallas Mavericks since the Texas franchise sent him to the Washington Wizards at the trade deadline.
Several rumors suggested Porzingis relationship with fellow Mavs superstar Luka Doncic was not ideal, but the Washington big rejected this notion after the Wizards downed Mavs 103-135.
“There’s no issue between us. We’re super-cool. We’d always hang out. And I would say that’s the biggest misconception,” Porzingis told reporters.
Porzingis had 24 points and nine rebounds in his first game against his former team, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 35 to push the Wizards to win.
Rui Hachimura added 21 for Washington, which won for the fourth time in five games despite being eliminated from playoff contention a day earlier.
Luka Doncic had 36 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Dallas, which fell a half-game behind Golden State for third place in the Western Conference.
“Luka’s a cool dude, hangs out. He’s super-chill. So, it’s hard not to be cool with him. That’s the only thing I would say,” Porzingis continued in his recollection on his relationship with Doncic.
“It just doesn’t work out the way everybody expects or the way we saw it. It is what it is. It was cool to play with a generational superstar talent like him.”
Dinwiddie, who was the main part of Porzingis trade for Dallas, had eight points in 23 minutes in his first game against the Wizards since the deal, while Bertans played 10 scoreless minutes.
When Porzingis called to summarize his team in Dallas, he shared that they had good moments with the team and it was fun playing for the city.
“I think we had really good moments with Dallas. And we had a lot of fun playing there. I had a lot of fun. I connected with so many people super-well there and I miss a lot of relationships that I built in Dallas.”
In 14 games in Washington, the Latvian big is averaging 22.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. With Beal returning from injury in the offseason, the Wizards are hoping the duo of Porzingis and Beal to lead the franchise to postseason next year.
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