The Warriors are heading toward their Oct. 21 regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers without Kristaps Porziņģis, and there still isn’t a clear answer on when that changes.
Porziņģis, who signed a two-year, $40 million deal with Golden State in the offseason, has been sidelined by a mysterious illness since September, when the team announced he would be out indefinitely before training camp in Hawaii. He has not taken part in camp and has missed all four of the Warriors’ preseason games.
“I’m not marking him down as being out to start the season or anything like that,” Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy said at the time. “He’s just not available this week. … Disappointed that he won’t be out there tomorrow, but it’s early, so don’t want
to overreact to anything.”
Coach Steve Kerr had little new to offer on Oct. 8, when he said Porziņģis was again absent.
“[Porziņģis] is not here today. We’ve obviously been busy in Hawaii and Portland, so we just came in and worked out the vets, had a really good practice.
I’ll reach out to KP today and check in with him, but nothing new to report,” Kerr said. He added that he’s texted with Porziņģis, who seems to be “doing OK.”
The absence is especially notable because Golden State brought Porziņģis in at last season’s deadline in a deal that sent Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks. In 15 games with the Warriors, he averaged 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 blocks, while shooting 43.3% from the field and 31.1% from 3-point range.
Porziņģis’ career has long been shaped by availability questions. Knee problems, including a torn ACL that wiped out the entire 2018-19 season, have followed him for years, and he has reached the 65-game mark only three times in 10 seasons. Over the last three seasons, he has played 57, 42 and 32 games for the Boston Celtics, Hawks and Warriors, respectively.
Near the end of his final season in Boston in 2025, Porziņģis began dealing with extreme fatigue and was later diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, which can cause rapid heart-rate changes when standing and lead to exhaustion and dizziness.
“You know how people say, 'Oh, I'm so fatigued.' I've never used those words.
I don't even like to speak in those terms, but I really was like that,” Porziņģis said ahead of last season. “At that time, I could just lay on the couch and be a house cat.”
Neither Porziņģis nor the Warriors has explained whether this latest illness is connected to POTS, and Porziņģis has not spoken to the media since April.
Golden State still chose to bring him back this summer, betting on his upside while working around an aging core of Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler. Butler is also sidelined with a torn ACL, and the second year of Porziņģis’ deal carries only a partial guarantee of $3 million.
“I think in constructing (the roster), we had to make a decision between talent and availability,” Dunleavy said in August. “There was no perfect solution in terms of a combination of the two, and I think we leaned a little bit more towards talent, knowing the team that we have, what we need. And (we) hope that we can get some good luck, but also improve in some areas medically.”
That gamble has not paid off yet. The Warriors have Porziņģis, Butler and Moses Moody - who is out with a torn patellar tendon - combining for about $90 million in contracts currently tied up by injury.
“Circumstances change every year. You get thrown a lot of curveballs in this business.
It’s always the same mentality -- next man up, prepare for what’s in front of you and support everybody who’s not here,” Kerr said on Oct. 8.
“Whether it’s Jimmy or KP or Moses, we’re always gonna give our players every bit of support and help them be the best versions of themselves and acknowledge that the train doesn’t stop moving. We’re having a great camp, really pleased with the progress we’re making.
Obviously, we’d rather have KP here and part of it, but he’s gotta take care of his health and we’ll support that and keep moving forward with the team.”
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