Bobby Portis wants no buyout from the Knicks and expects his hard work to pay off
Knicks forward Bobby Portis looks on against the Heat at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 12. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
ATLANTA — Much uncertainty surrounds the Knicks even now, a few days past the trade deadline, but one player has no mystery about where he stands.
Bobby Portis, who signed a two-year deal worth $30.7 million in the summer with a one-year guarantee, has spent this season in a role far less important than the one he anticipated when the Knicks courted him.
But when asked if he might seek a buyout to join a playoff-contending team that would provide a better audition for his next contract, he smiled.
“No, I’m 24 years old,” said Portis, who will turn 25 Monday. “There ain’t no buyout . . . I need to make as much money as I can for my family, my mom, my brother. I ain’t never thought of that. Never been in my head. I don’t know who brought that up . . . came up with that. I’m 24 years old. People think I’m older than what I really am, but I’m still a young player.”
Portis — who scored 14 points in 19 minutes in the Knicks’ 140-135 double-overtime loss to the Hawks on Sunday night — split last season between Chicago and Washington, averaging a career-high 14.2 points per game. Entering Sunday, those numbers had dipped to 9.4 this season, and he averaged 6.6 points and less than 20 minutes in the previous seven games. He has started four games after starting 28 last season.
Portis was one of the seven free agents signed by the Knicks in a flurry as free agency began last summer. But he was not courted with the understanding that he would be one of four power forwards the team would bring in, with Julius Randle and Marcus Morris taking the bulk of the minutes and shots.
Portis’ name came up in trade rumors last week as the team sought to conduct another makeover, but he took it in stride.
“Just staying in the now, being myself, coming in here every day, preparing myself for a basketball game,” he said. “Obviously, each and every year, if you’re not LeBron, Kevin Durant, those guys like that, your name is going to come up in a trade. It’s part of being in the league, part of being a pro, staying proactive, doing the little things that are necessary for you to get on the court. That’s the only thing you can control. You can’t control who plays, but we can control our work ethic. That’s one thing I’ve got to try to control.
“I’m a big-time believer in the cream rises to the top. I’m staying ready. I never complain. I always work, even if I don’t play a lot. Come in, get conditioning in. Obviously, last year I had a career year and this year’s been up- and-down for me. Just staying ready. God gives his test to his greatest soldiers. The point being, I always stay in the gym, early, late, and one thing about it with basketball, you just work as hard as you can and I think everything else takes care of itself.”
Thursday’s Morris trade does not bode well for the Knicks’ prospects. They already have dismissed coach David Fizdale and team president Steve Mills, and a playoff berth seems unlikely.
But Morris’ departure could open up more opportunities for Portis, a fortuitous turn for a player who could find himself on the free-agent market again this summer. He said he remains optimistic that he will be a part of this team.
“I have to be, got to be, got to ride through it,” he said. “I don’t like giving up on things. I’m from the South. You start something, you finish it. That’s my slogan. Been that my whole life. Through ups and downs, you ride through it. You can’t give up on something that you signed up for. I’m up for the test.
“ . . . We’ve got the scorers in here that can score the ball, but we want to share the basketball, be a team, get our camaraderie up, just play for each other. These last four games, we didn’t really care who was the leading scorer. We just wanted to win the basketball game. Every year around February or March, teams start peaking in the right direction. I feel like our team’s peaking.
“I’m just going out there staying ready,” he added. “It doesn’t matter if I play 17, 18, 28 [minutes]. Shoot the basketball when the opportunity is given to me. Just try to make plays for my teammates and just play as hard as I can.
“I can’t control how long I play, when I play. But I can control how hard I play, how I can impact the basketball game.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
