DALLAS — The lost ice week. Trade rumors. Three games missed with lower back tightness.
Kristaps Porzingis has endured a lot the past two weeks while remaining silent publicly. He broke that silence Friday after putting in a full practice with anticipation of returning to the court to face the East-leading Nets in Brooklyn on Saturday night.
First, the rumor that emerged Monday night in a Bleacher Report story that said the Mavericks have been quietly gauging his trade value, a report that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and coach Rick Carlisle strongly refuted.
“It kind of like came out and it is what it is,” Porzingis said. “I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. And I shouldn’t be too worried about it. It can only distract me at the end of the day. I try to focus on being in the moment, being here day to day and putting in the work with my teammates and getting better as a basketball player.”
Porzingis, in the second year of a five-year, $158 million max contract that includes a player opt-out clause after season four, has only played in 17 of Dallas’ 31 games this season.
He last played on Feb. 14 against Portland, two nights after scoring a season-high 36 points against New Orleans.
Then came the wintery weather and power and water outages that caused two game postponements during a week that Porzingis worked on core muscle conditioning to improve his stance and posture and thus his defensive struggles.
When the Mavericks, after eight days off, finally returned to host Memphis on Monday, Porzingis was declared out with lower back tightness. Shortly after that game, the Bleacher Report story broke, then Porzingis missed Tuesday’s home win over Boston and Thursday’s 14-point loss at Philadelphia.
“I just haven’t had the best luck in that sense,” the 25-year-old Porzingis said of his long history of injuries, major and minor, that have caused him to miss 177 of a potential 440 regular-season and playoff games during his career.
“I’ve had some injuries and I’m fighting through them and I’m coming back and then another little thing happens here and there,” he continued. “It’s been a little bit like that so far, but I’m working to make sure my body is strong and that we’re durable and I can just play without thinking about anything, without worrying ... just being free out there and enjoying the game that I love.”
Amid the physical setbacks, which included missing this season’s first nine games while rehabbing from right knee meniscus surgery, there have been mental challenges.
Along with the trade stories that surfaced in recent days, there has been criticism of his defense, which Carlisle attributed to Porzingis’ inability to train during the offseason or take part in training camp.
Although there has been a significant uptick in his offensive output — he’s averaged 22.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 50% shooting from the field and 42.3% from 3-point distance in eight February games — Porzingis agrees that his defensive performance has not been up to his standards.
“I had situations where, particularly when I’m on defense, that you see it with your eyes and your mind and you want to react but you’re just a half a step late. You’re not there. That’s a frustrating feeling, too, when you know you can do it but you just don’t do it. So that’s been on my mind.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of work and making sure I’m in a good stance where I can react quickly, do what I do out there on the defensive end. It’s frustrating when I feel like I can do a bit better. It’s obviously a team game but at the end I look at myself and I look at what I can do better.”
Carlisle said Porzingis looked good in practice Friday, adding that he fully expects Porzingis to face the Nets, who have won eight straight games but once again will be without injured Kevin Durant on Saturday.
