Porziņģis recently signed a shoe deal with Adidas in what was the most lucrative deal for any European player to date.
"It's the fruit of labor. I am no longer a debut player, it's the second year. And I think that people from Adidas esteemed what I did in the first year and saw potential in me to give me such a contract. It isn't anything that will change my life. I will regardless continue playing basketball and doing what I love, and that's when the good moments will come," he said.
He also told LTV about his training regimen during summer 2016:
"I tried putting on physical strength during the off-season, worked a lot on my legs and also my throw and afterwards the dribble. So I put in a lot of work this summer. It is paying off, and I have improved many things.
All of it has not yet come together so that I'd pull off excellent games."
Porziņģis also expressed pleasure over the second Latvian NBA player - Dāvis Bertāns (San Antonio Spurs) - starting this year. He played with Bertāns while in Spain.
"It's very nice that this is the first year in history when there are two Latvian players in the NBA. It's very nice that we've done something like that, that there's progress. And meeting Dāvis on the field again will be especially enjoyable as it's on a different level now.
That's why I think that not only me and Dāvis are waiting for the [February 12] game - all of Latvia is waiting," said Porziņģis.
Here are Porziņģis' highlights from the Knicks' game against the Bulls on November 4.
