Kristaps Porzingis is apparently hoping to become like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in “Game of Death.”
The new Atlanta Hawks big man Porzingis spoke this week to Sportacentrs.com, an outlet in his native Latvia. During the interview, Porzingis revealed that he is planning to go into an unusual career after retiring from the NBA — he would like to take up mixed martial arts.
“MMA is a sport that is very close to my heart,” said Porzingis, according to a rough translation. “Number one in terms of viewing. It is something that I am passionate about, which is why I decided to participate in a new MMA project. Everything is still in progress – when we get closer to the final result, I will be able to tell you more.
“This summer I played a little tennis and padel tennis – very good sports in the summer, especially in the fresh air,” Porzingis added. “I have also tried my hand at MMA, but I promised one of the clubs I represented that I would not do it during my career. I am ‘saving up’ to start an MMA career after basketball.”
The former NBA All-Star Porzingis is now 30 years old and about to enter his 10th NBA season. As such, he is now plotting out what he wants his life to look like after basketball.
Still, Porzingis stands 7-foot-2, so he would be quite the spectacle as an MMA fighter. Those as tall as Porzingis are obviously extremely few and far between in combat sports, and the tallest fighter ever in the history of The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was Stefan Struve at “only” 7-foot.
Porzingis wouldn’t be the first NBA player to enter combat sports (though usually the ones that do are far shorter). As it stands right now, Porzingis, who landed with Atlanta last month in a multi-team blockbuster, is on an expiring $30.7 million contract for next year. Perhaps Porzingis will be eyeing one or two final contracts in the NBA before moving onto a career in the cage.
