21-year-old Kristaps Porzingis is regarded as a unicorn, but one NBA player that he has a great deal in common with is Dirk Nowitzki; both players are seven-footers who can shoot from outside and hail from Europe (Nowitzki from Germany and Porzingis from Latvia). Nowitzki is widely regarded as the greatest European basketball player of all time, and he has very high hopes for Porzingis. From ESPN’s Ian Begley:
“I am a huge fan of his game. Obviously the sky is the limit for him,” Nowitzki said. “He’s got the deep ball. He’s got the in-between game. He is working on his post-ups. He is the real deal.”
Most would agree with Nowitzki that the sky is the limit for Porzingis. He’s seven-foot-three, is capable of scoring from the inside or outside, and is a talented shot-blocker.
Porzingis has expressed his desire to work with Nowitzki next summer, and wants Nowitzki to teach him his signature fadeaway jump shot.
In 10 games (all starts) for the Knicks this season, Porzingis has averaged 19.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 48.2% from the field, 39.6% from three-point range, and 78.3% from the foul line.
