It’s not just the Wizards’ pink uniforms. There’s something different about Kristaps Porzingis in Washington this season.
The whiskers along his jawline now condense into a thick beard framing his chin. Over the summer, en route to the barbershop for a routine cut, Porzingis’ girlfriend, Laura, urged him to keep his offseason scruff. Long clean-shaven and originally defiant, “I said, ‘I don’t have enough [facial hair], no way,’” Porzingis told Yahoo Sports. But then his barber agreed with Laura, persuading the former All-Star to bear another week of growth before the man could shape a perfect style for Washington’s new second banana to Bradley Beal. “And then it started to look like something,” Porzingis grinned. “I don’t look 15 anymore, that’s the good thing. I was 25 years old and looked like a kid.”
Now 27, he’s learning how to maintain his stringy beard with wax, while adapting seamlessly to his second team since New York selected him fourth in the 2015 NBA draft. After injuries and tensions with co-star Luka Doncic derailed his Mavericks tenure, Porzingis has started and played 23 of the Wizards’ 24 games this season, averaging 21.8 points — the second-highest mark of his career, behind only the 2017-18 season in which Porzingis earned his only All-Star appearance.
He’s found quite the compatibility with Beal and Co. The Wizards’ centerpiece can scurry off the ball and relocate along the wings as Porzingis catches at the nail and works through his low-post touches. Beal is having the most efficient shooting season of his own impressive career, converting better than 50% from the field for the first time. According to Second Spectrum, Beal’s getting better looks with Porzingis on the floor for his best shot quality since 2018-19. They function as two hubs of Washington’s offense, two constellations in equal orbit, as opposed to the 7-foot-3 marksman constantly revolving around Doncic’s singular engine.
Such an egalitarian partnership, though, was how Dallas first billed its dreamy Doncic-Porzingis pairing in 2019, when the Mavericks swooped in to land the 23-year-old fresh off that All-Star appearance — despite a torn ACL in his left knee sidelining Porzingis for the entire 2018-19 campaign. The Mavericks lavished their splashy acquisition with a five-year, $158 million deal during that July’s free agency, without him even playing a game for the franchise.
