NEW YORK — The New York Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, parting with the young All-Star forward as he recovers from a torn knee ligament.
The Knicks acquired Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and two future first-round picks in the deal, while also sending guards Tim Hardaway Jr., Trey Burke and Courtney Lee to Dallas.
The Knicks made the surprising move after saying Porzingis requested a trade earlier on Thursday.
The 7-foot-3 Porzingis was the No. 4 pick in the 2015 draft and once was expected to be the Knicks’ franchise player for years. But they declined to give him a contract extension last summer, and now by trading him and Hardaway seem instead to be gearing up to pursue players in free agency.
Hardaway has two more years and about $37 million left on his contract, and moving that was necessary if the Knicks were going to find a way to open the most cap space possible.
New York (10-40) has the worst record in the NBA and is headed toward landing a high pick in the draft. Then the Knicks will be set up to be big spenders — perhaps for two top players — in a free agent market that could include Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving and more.
But they won’t have Porzingis, who they once believed was the kind of talent who could help attract those players. The Latvian has 3-point range on offense and shot-blocking skills on defense, and had made his first All-Star team just before tearing his ACL after a dunk against Milwaukee on Feb. 6.
New Orleans has an All-Star for the sixth straight year. That is, unless he gets traded first.
Pelicans standout Anthony Davis — only three days removed from having his trade request made known publicly — was one of the 14 players announced on Thursday as reserves for the All-Star Game in Charlotte. Davis wants to be swapped out of New Orleans by the Feb. 7 trade deadline, so it remains unclear if his uniform for the All-Star contest on Feb. 17 will bear a Pelicans logo or not.
The other Western Conference reserves were Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook, Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Portland’s Damian Lillard, Golden State’s Klay Thompson, San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge and Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns.
Indiana’s Victor Oladipo was selected as one of the Eastern Conference reserves, even though his season is over because of injury. The other reserves from the East were Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton, Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons, Washington’s Bradley Beal, Detroit’s Blake Griffin and Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic — the first Magic player to make the game since Dwight Howard in 2012. No Boston Celtics were named.
Jokic, Middleton, Simmons and Vucevic are the first-time All-Stars. Dallas rookie Luka Doncic didn’t make the cut, getting denied in his bid to be the first rookie since Griffin in 2011 to be picked for the game.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Asia Durr scored 14 of her 24 points in the second quarter, Dana Evans added 20 points and No. 3 Louisville held No. 2 UConn to 38 percent shooting.
After starting 0 for 4 from the field in the first quarter, Durr made three consecutive 3s to open the second and put the Cardinals (20-1) up 32-24.
Jazmine Jones and Sam Fuehring followed with two free throws each for a 13-point lead and the Cardinals added four more from the line in the final 1:30 to seal their first series victory against UConn (18-2) since the inaugural meeting in the 1993 NCAA Tournament.
Jones finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Fuehring added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Napheesa Collier had 20 points, and Crystal Dangerfield added 19 for the Huskies. They had won their previous seven since losing at Baylor.