As if the David Fizdale-Enes Kanter friction was not enough, there was also some Tim Hardaway Jr. and Allonzo Trier drama on Thursday.
Late Wednesday night, following the Knicks' 114-110 loss to the Rockets, Trier direct messaged a fan on Twitter who was mocking the rookie for "ducking" behind James Harden on a screen that allowed Eric Gordon to hit a wide open, go-ahead three-pointer.
Trier said it was supposed to be a switch, implying that Hardaway was at fault for not defending Gordon on that play.
Hardaway, who was unaware of the DM that was screenshotted and posted to Twitter, was none too pleased when he was informed of it by media members after Thursday's practice.
"So he's blaming other people, basically," Hardaway said. "At the end of the day it all falls down on the team. ... We looked at it today. I think in that scenario I was denying James, deny him from the ball and they had someone else score. Yeah, just had to watch it, look it over and see what we can do better."
When pressed further on Trier, Hardaway said those kind of things need to be resolved behind closed doors.
"When it gets taken to social media, that means you're breaking the rules of being a team" pic.twitter.com/YDF0FAD7UK
- SNY (@SNYtv) January 24, 2019
"When it gets taken to social media, you're breaking the rules of being a team," Hardaway said. "Keep all your frustration and everything and be pros. Don't listen tot the outside. We're all in this together. Fifteen strong. If you let that affect you then you don't have your mind set and don't have a clear mind to where you want to go and what you want to become."
Trier eventually apologized for his social media comments when he spoke with reporters.
"Getting frustrated about the game, then letting social media get the best of you and giving somebody a response that wasn't to somebody that was relevant to the situation," he said. "So my apologies for doing that. Obviously I didn't think he would take a picture of it and post it, but he got his little clout or whatever, his 15 seconds of fame. That's why you don't send stuff like that out."
Fizdale said he spoke to Trier about the incident, too.
"I talked to him about it and just said, 'I know where it's coming from," the Knicks head coach said. "Because he's frustrated, he wants to win, he wants people to understand how much he wants to win and compete. But it can't come out like that. And it can't come out in that kind of anger and frustration and it definitely can't come out on social media."