The only person who really knows how close the New York Knicks came to trading Kristaps Porzingis prior to Thursday’s draft is Phil Jackson. Everyone involved will say publicly (and, probably, anonymously to reporters) that the trade wasn’t close. (Jackson didn’t want to comment on the Knicks’ trade discussions on Thursday night.)
League sources, though, say that members of the Knicks front office were at the very least intrigued by some offers that they received for Porzingis over the course of the past few days.
Jackson and the Knicks’ asking price turned out to be too high (it was described by one opposing team as astronomical), which makes sense.