There should probably be a rule outlawing professional athletes from Twitter considering it does nothing but get them into trouble.
Add Kristaps Porzingis to that list over the weekend as a few smiley-face emojis freaked out an entire fan base and made every single NBA reporter jump out of their chair.
On Saturday night, Porzingis, who is spending the summer in Europe, tweeted three smiley faces to the Los Angeles Clippers at around 8 p.m. ET, 2 a.m. his time.
While the tweet in itself was alarming to those believing that Porzingis wants out of New York, it was even more so because it came a day after ESPN.com reported that multiple teams inquired about the Latvian’s availability on the trade market.
However, Porzingis’ representation remains adamant that his account was hacked after the tweet was quickly deleted.
Had he actually tweeted that though, his apparent happiness with the Clippers might be for another reason.
The Knicks and Clippers have been linked to a deal involving Carmelo Anthony, who will likely be dealt this summer as New York attempts to rebuild around Porzingis.
League executives told Marc Berman of the New York Post that they “expect to reengage” in trade talks soon, with point guard J.J. Redick as the main return for the Knicks.
Porzingis has been unhappy with the way the Knicks have been run over his first two years in the NBA.
It prompted him to skip his end-of-season meetings with Knicks president Phil Jackson and take an extended trip to his home country over the summer.
Both Porzingis and Jackson still have not spoken while the Knicks president admitted that anyone on the roster could be traded.
However, dealing the 7-foot-3 big man that can score from anywhere on the floor would quickly become the most boneheaded transaction ever made by a franchise that has been one of the laughing stocks of the league for the past 16 years.
