Warriors Ripped for ‘No Idea’ About Kristaps Porzingis Illness

If there is one thing that has become clean about Golden State Warriors big man Kristaps Porzingis in the past year-plus, it’s that he is subject to mysterious illnesses. Most of the league seems to be well aware of that when it comes to Porzingis–except, apparently the Warriors.

On Monday, Golden State coach Steve Kerr sat before reporters and expressed his confusion about what’s going on with Porzingis, who was acquired at the NBA trade deadline in a deal with the Hawks for forward Jonathan Kuminga. Porzingis was out, at the time, with tendinitis in his Achilles tendon, but he returned after the All-Star break to play one game–17 minutes in total–against Boston.

Since then, Porzingis has not played, missing a two-game road trip, then missing home games against the Lakers and Clippers. Now, the Warriors are not saying whether Porzingis is going on an upcoming three-game road trip through Houston, Oklahoma City and Utah. And worse, coach Steve Kerr seems to be surprised to learn that Porzingis has had issues with an illness that his past teams have struggled to identify.

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Steve Kerr Gets in Hot Water on Kristaps Porzingis

Kerr first got himself in trouble last week when he told the radio station 95.7 The Game in San Francisco that the new Warriors big man did not have the affliction known as POTS, or Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. When Porzingis was with the Celtics last year, that was the condition from which he was reported to be suffering.

Citing a conversation with Hawks GM Onsi Salah, Kerr called the POTS disgnosis, “misinformation.” He later apologized for that, calling it a, “stupid mistake.”

But Kerr has not done the Warriors any favors since. On Monday, he said of Porzingis, “It’s a little mysterious. Obviously, we’re working with him and hoping that he can get some clarity and he can break through and get to a point where he’s consistently healthy.”

That left Sirius XM NBA Radio host Justin Termine dumbfounded. He wrote on Twitter/X: “How is it ‘a little mysterious’ when he was sick for the past year at the time you dealt for him? That’s the exact opposite of mysterious.”

And Dr. Brian Sutterer, a sports medicine doctor who comments on athletic injuries on his YouTube channel, wrote, “So they really had no idea what was wrong before they acquired him?!”

 

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Warriors Were Either Duplicitous or Ignorant

That’s sort of where the Warriors are with Porzingis, who might not play for Golden State again this season and, indeed, might not play in the NBA again. Whether he has POTS or some other ailment does not necessarily matter–at some point, all that matters is whether a player can play and be competent on the floor.

Porzingis has not shown that he can do that, and the more Kerr talks about what might or might not be wrong with him, the worse it looks. Because either the Warriors knew that, when they sent Jonathan Kuminga to Atlanta for Porzingis, they were getting back a player who had an expiring contract (as Porzingis does) and little else, or they genuinely did not know how bad Porzingis’s illness was.

So the Dubs were either folding on Kuminga and just wanted an expiring contract, or they genuinely did not know Porzingis had a mystery ailment. Neither case makes the team look particularly good.

 

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney