New York Knicks: Five Benefits Of Kristaps Porzingis Training With Pau Gasol

2. Championship Pedigree

Whether it’s readily acknowledged or not, winning a championship is a notch on any player’s belt. When a player stars in a featured role on a championship team, it’s an even more significant achievement due to the direct role they played in winning at the highest level.

One would like to think that every player wants to win, but knowing how isn’t something that an athlete is born with.

Porzingis has the will to win, which is why he’s already become one of the most popular players in the NBA. He leaves it all out on the court, even in the midst of one of the worst stretches in franchise history—and, perhaps most importantly, even at 7’3”.

Learning how to win in the NBA is a matter of learning how to pace one’s self physically, mentally, and emotionally through a regular season and postseason, and Gasol can teach a master class on doing so.

Gasol has a championship pedigree and routinely elevates the players around him. He’s learned to do so by selflessly accepting the need to trust his teammates, as well as understanding when the optimal time is to take over when no one else seems capable or willing.

Porzingis is an unselfish player who competes on both ends of the floor, but learning how to win is best done from an individual who has won at the highest possible level.