DALLAS — As Kristaps Porzingis finished off a practice session Thursday afternoon with the Mavericks he had everything he wanted: a first-place team, a contract that made him very wealthy and assured his future playing alongside Luka Doncic, one of the best young players in the game.
But he couldn’t help consider as he talked about facing the Knicks Friday night, the first meeting with the team that drafted him and made him a franchise centerpiece, that it didn’t have to be this way. Maybe the contentious feelings that led him to request a trade could have been soothed.