Phil Jackson claims Kristaps Porzingis was the first player he’s had miss an exit meeting. This is not true.

On Wednesday evening, Phil Jackson was on Knicks Night Live with Al Trautwig, where he expressed his displeasure with Kristaps Porzingis for skipping his exit meeting. Since then, Porzingis has been the subject of trade rumors.

Jackson told Trautwig, “I don’t think I’ve ever had a player over 25 years of coaching, maybe 30, not come to an exit meeting.” He added, “So it’s not happened to me, I know it happens to other people and other players.”

Either Jackson simply doesn’t remember, or he’s lying, because it has happened to him.

In 2003 when Jackson was coaching the Lakers, Shaquille O’Neal missed his exit interview, but would later attend it two weeks later. It still upset Jackson.

“It’s disrespectful to us as a staff,” Jackson said at the time. “We wanted this and we felt it was important as a team. It’s important for closure.... And it’s adult responsibility to do that.”

The following season, O’Neal did it again, and it led to some bigger changes. After missing his exit interview was scheduled for June 18, Phil Jackson stepped down as Lakers coach the very next day. On July 14, O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat per his request.

Porzingis’s missed exit interview may end up being history repeating itself. The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Knicks have been making calls in an attempt to get a top-four pick to get Kansas’ Josh Jackson in Thursday’s draft, along with another starter-level player.

Jackson told Trautwig he tried to call Porzingis, but hadn’t been able to speak with him on the phone. He did say, however, “As much as we love this guy, we have to do what’s best for our club.”

The lesson here, is if you ever have a scheduled call or talk with Phil Jackson, you better be on time.