Kristaps Porzingis, the Golden State Warriors’ big man, is already sidelined, set to miss the team’s one-week training camp in Hawaii. General Manager Mike Dunleavy dropped the bomb on Monday, telling reporters at media day that Porzingis is out “indefinitely” due to an unspecified “health issue.” The team just found out about it Sunday, a single day before the season-opening event, even though Dunleavy said the 31-year-old had been working out without any issues right up until then. Talk about a gut punch before things even get rolling.
Déjà Vu for the Dubs?
This isn’t just some random hiccup for Porzingis or the Warriors. This guy has missed huge chunks of the last two seasons with a medical condition he himself has said is postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS. Remember Dr. Nirav Pandya’s description of POTS? “Like the extreme version of standing up and feeling lightheaded, and that doesn’t go away.” Sounds brutal. When the Warriors traded Jonathan Kuminga for the 7-foot-2 center last year, Porzingis only played in one of his first eleven games on the roster. Even Coach Steve Kerr got burned by this, first calling the POTS diagnosis “misinformation” before he had to apologize for a “stupid mistake.” Kerr even referred to Porzingis’s condition as “a little mysterious” while he was out last year. Now, the GM is tight-lipped, declining to specify if this current absence is related to POTS, saying “It’s a health thing that I really can’t comment on.” It’s starting to feel like Groundhog Day for Dubs fans, isn’t it?
More Questions Than Answers For Golden State
Despite the past issues, Porzingis did show flashes last season. He played in 14 games over the final five weeks of the regular season, and in the first play-in game against the Clippers, he put up 20 points in almost 28 minutes, adding five boards, five assists, and two blocks. Those performances were enough for the Warriors to bring him back on a two-year, $40 million deal. But now? This new “health issue” couldn’t come at a worse time. The Warriors’ roster is barely changed from the squad that finished tenth in the West last season, and they are already looking at significant time without Jimmy Butler (torn ACL) and Moses Moody (torn patellar tendon). Any more injury concerns, especially with a key piece like Porzingis, just pile on the questions about how Golden State expects to even sniff a playoff spot this year.
Dunleavy insists he’s “not marking him down as being out to start the season or anything like that,” but with the training camp already a wash and no clear timeline, that’s not exactly a confidence booster. This situation is definitely one we’ll be watching closely as the season draws nearer.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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