New York Knicks: Five reasons Kristaps Porzingis shouldn’t be traded for Kyrie Irving

2. Offensive Foundation

It’s early in his career, but Kristaps Porzingis already has one of the more intriguing offensive skill sets in the NBA. He’s a modern NBA big man in the sense that he can hit the 3-ball, as well as an improving post player and an effective dribble penetrator.

The New York Knicks still need to find a consistent scoring option along the perimeter, but Porzingis is as promising as any big man in the NBA.

Porzingis finished his rookie season with an average of 14.3 points per game, and upped that number to 18.1 points per game in 2016-17. The foundation of his game is currently his jump shot, which he’s converted to the tune of 81 and 112 3-point field goals made during his two seasons.

Porzingis is also an 81.1 percent free throw shooter through two seasons, which eliminates even the slightest thought of a hack-a-Shaq approach.

Porzingis also has a tight handle that he uses to drive the lane, and a post game that will increase in effectiveness as his body fills out. That may fit the profile of the modern NBA big man, but his skill set is superior to that of a traditional stretch 4.

If the Knicks manage to build the ideal system around Porzingis, it stands to reason that he could become a legitimately elite scoring threat.