The Knicks had four coaches during Porzingis’ tenure, former president Phil Jackson strongly considered trading him, and he received pushback for working with his physiotherapist, Manolo Valdivieso. New York also traded his best friend, Willy Hernangomez, and did not renew the contract of former assistant coach Josh Longstaff, who was close with Porzingis. The writing was on the wall when Porzingis had previously skipped his exit meeting in April 2017. A few months later, after New York hired Perry as general manager, the tension between Knicks management and Janis and Kristaps remained, and there was little hope of salvaging the damaged relationship, according to sources.