By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Veteran journalist Peter Vecsey reported that the reason behind Kristaps Porzingis’ decision to skip the exit meeting of the New York Knicks after the season’s completion, was a specific… “motivational” message from his head coach Jeff Hornacek.
Hornacek reportedly “cornered” Willy Hernangomez, Kristaps’ best buddy in the Knicks since the two know each other from their days in Sevilla, and asked him to tell the “Unicorn” to “stop playing like a pu**y”. Obviously, this didn’t abide well with the Latvian big guy who expressed his discontent by ditching exit interview.
(Per Patreon, via The Big Lead)
“According to a report by Peter Vecsey, Hornacek rode Porzingis hard last season and their feud culminated in explosive fashion. Willy Hernangomez is Porzingis’ best friend on the team, and at one point, Hornacek reportedly cornered the Spanish big man and told him to tell Porzingis to stop “stop playing like a pu**y.” That led Porzingis to skip out on his exit interview and basically shut down any relationship with his head coach.
Vecsey does note that he’s heard Porzingis and Hornacek are back on speaking terms, either through text or through Hernangomez. We’ll see how long that lasts.
The rest of the details in the piece are fascinating. Apparently, at one point, Porzingis developed a habit of parking in spots designated for management at the team’s practice facility. Additionally, while Hornacek was fairly brutal to the 22-year-old star, he never said anything to Carmelo Anthony.”