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Don’t worry, he still wants to be a Knick.

Kristaps Porzingis will leave for Latvia on Thursday without meeting with Phil Jackson, but he said blowing off his exit meeting with the team president is not a sign he doesn’t want to play at the Garden next season.

“Of course,” Porzingis told The Post at his luxury apartment complex in Manhattan, when asked if he wants to be a Knick next year. “I love New York. I love New York.”

According to a source, the Knicks were not given an explanation behind Porzingis’ decision to skip his scheduled exit meeting with Jackson on Friday. Sources have told The Post the 21-year-old franchise pillar is upset with the way the franchise has been run — with Jackson looking to trade Carmelo Anthony, Porzingis’ mentor, and going full tilt on a triangle offense that Porzingis has publicly supported but has mixed feelings about.

On Wednesday, Porzingis declined to address why he missed the meeting with Jackson.

“It’s not the right moment to comment on anything [about it],” he said. “I don’t want to say anything.’’

According to sources, Jackson and the coaching staff have dispersed for a brief respite now that the season is over. Team brass is in the dark on why Porzingis declined to show.

“It wasn’t right,” said one individual familiar with Jackson’s feelings on the blow-off. “But Phil went through this with Kobe [Bryant] and Andrew [Bynum], when they were still young but started to sprout their opinions and rebelled. It worked for Kobe. Hopefully this will make Kristaps better in the long run.”
Last Wednesday, during his last interview with the media, Porzingis didn’t sound as if he wanted to hear the term “rebuilding.’’

“No one’s comfortable with losing,” Porzingis said that day. “If it means going in the right direction and doing the right thing, let’s do that. But just having no idea the direction, then it’s not going to work out. The direction has to be clear what we want to do.”

Jackson said at his Friday press conference that nobody on the club was untouchable — including Porzingis. But it’s hard to imagine the Knicks getting equal value for the 7-foot-3 Latvian who has a chance to be a superstar if he gets stronger.

Porzingis said last week he would “live in the gym” this offseason and spend most if it overseas. He’s been working daily since the season ended in the state-of-the-art gym in his apartment tower. He also was spotted taking a long bike ride with his brothers on Easter Sunday.

After working out Wednesday with Sasha Vujacic at that gym, Porzingis and his brothers, Martins and Janis, filmed the last scenes of a documentary of his life that will air on ESPN before June’s draft.

Porzingis said the crew had filmed most of it in Latvia last summer when he staged his basketball camps, but the producers wanted the final scenes of Porzingis at his Midtown apartment, where he lives with his brothers. It is another signal Porzingis doesn’t want to go anywhere. Porzingis’ two brothers also love New York after previously living their whole lives in Europe where both played basketball professionally.

“It’s my last day here,” Porzingis said. “I’m very excited. We started filming in the summer. I didn’t really finish it. A whole season went by and now we’ll finish it today.”

Porzingis will hold a press conference Monday in his hometown of Liepaja to formally announce his participation on the Latvian national team in the European Championships. Porzingis hasn’t played for the national team in three years.

Vmart wrote:

holfresh wrote:The kid sounds like he is upset with the organization and it's not about standing clear and wait for the situation Melo just to settle..He is making a big statement. Not sure what it is but clearly he isn't on the same page as management and he wants that known..

To me it seems like he knows it's his team now and playing the I want maximum help ala LeBron, Kobe and so on. But the Knicks are rebuilding and KP get on board with it. This organization been there and done that so he should just get with the program. This Melo talk the BS that gets this organization in trouble time and time again.

KP isn't looking for a move from NY like is said. This will eventually be settled but KP is a Knick and he's going to have to get used to life without Melo! This is gonna be his team along with our future picks. Time to man up!!!

holfresh wrote:Phil said there was a game KP played where he didn't take any threes Andre called to tell KP it was a good thing..The following games KP launched 5,7,6,6 threes...

It was about shot selection, not shot count.

Often times, KP DOES shoot the 3pt too much or it's not the best shot. Why is he 7 feet behind the line? Is there time on the clock to get a better shot?

martin wrote:

holfresh wrote:Phil said there was a game KP played where he didn't take any threes Andre called to tell KP it was a good thing..The following games KP launched 5,7,6,6 threes...

It was about shot selection, not shot count.

Often times, KP DOES shoot the 3pt too much or it's not the best shot. Why is he 7 feet behind the line? Is there time on the clock to get a better shot?

Oh I agree, does it look like he listened??..KP rarely look like he cared about shot selection..MY point is KP is tuning him out..

That article did really say all that much. It seems like the biggest quote about the knicks was pulled from his last media interview in which he complained about a lack of a clear direction.

Also, for those thinking that he would apologize it doesn't look like he is remorseful at all and I am pretty sure when a player misses a scheduled meeting the NY F.O. staff tries to get in contact with that player's agent/team. So why not say its not really an issue or the whole thing is being overblown?

holfresh wrote:^^^^Thats just par for the course yellow, expect more deflection ..But it's a HUGE statement by KP..KP is biking, doing interviews in NY and won't speak to the Knick brass..

He may be upset but it's not because of his role in the offense!!! AFTER the Triangle reset and Phil talking to KP, it's clear KP played well to close the year up until he tweaked his back so what proof is there that KP had issues at that point having to do with Team Offensive strategy??? By the time we got to the close of the season and they were playing the kids, there wasn't even a whisper of dissatisfaction from KP until the day of the Exit Meetings.

holfresh wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:^^^^Thats just par for the course yellow, expect more deflection ..But it's a HUGE statement by KP..KP is biking, doing interviews in NY and won't speak to the Knick brass..

He may be upset but it's not because of his role in the offense!!! AFTER the Triangle reset and Phil talking to KP, it's clear KP played well to close the year up until he tweaked his back so what proof is there that KP had issues at that point having to do with Team Offensive strategy??? By the time we got to the close of the season and they were playing the kids, there wasn't even a whisper of dissatisfaction from KP until the day of the Exit Meetings.

Technically he didn't say anything at exits..So you have no clue what spurred his dissatisfaction..

Correct but I have overwhelming proof that not only did KP approve of going with more Triangle but he played well along with the kids down the stretch! There was no angry towel thrown in frustration on the bench type of outburst. NOPE! KP just played really well and the kids continued to play better after he went down. So where would this supposed issue have come up over the last month of the season?

yellowboy90 wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:^^^^Thats just par for the course yellow, expect more deflection ..But it's a HUGE statement by KP..KP is biking, doing interviews in NY and won't speak to the Knick brass..

He may be upset but it's not because of his role in the offense!!! AFTER the Triangle reset and Phil talking to KP, it's clear KP played well to close the year up until he tweaked his back so what proof is there that KP had issues at that point having to do with Team Offensive strategy??? By the time we got to the close of the season and they were playing the kids, there wasn't even a whisper of dissatisfaction from KP until the day of the Exit Meetings.

Technically he didn't say anything at exits..So you have no clue what spurred his dissatisfaction..

Correct but I have overwhelming proof that not only did KP approve of going with more Triangle but he played well along with the kids down the stretch! There was no angry towel thrown in frustration on the bench type of outburst. NOPE! KP just played really well and the kids continued to play better after he went down. So where would this supposed issue have come up over the last month of the season?

If you want to hang all your hopes on 3 random games go right ahead but 3 games means nothing. I can cherry pick 3 games during anytime of the year but that doesn't mean it reflects what he thinks about the offense, team, Phil, Kurt, Melo, JH, teammates, Dolan, or the fan base.

Wow you didn't listen. It wasn't just the 3 games I posted!!! It was the entire stretch of time from the Triangle reset until the end of the year. KP and all the kids got better and there was no strife or issues that you can point to. No angry outbursts or yelling between players and coaches. Just the younger players getting more minutes and playing hard.

You can't point to anything that would indicate any "open rebellion" as Woj put it. Not from KP and the kids. They were playing hard and together in the closing days and they were listening to the coaches. NOT ONE SIGN OF DISSENSION!!!