{"id":632639,"date":"2026-03-01T16:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T16:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/632639\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T16:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T16:52:14","slug":"kristaps-porzingis-pots-illness-is-a-problem-for-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/632639\/","title":{"rendered":"Kristaps Porzingis POTS illness is a problem for Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Warriors<\/a> traded someone who didn\u2019t work for someone who can\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

They wouldn\u2019t play Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>. They aren\u2019t able to play Kristaps Porzingis<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the Kuminga experiment\u00a0was a blight, the Porzingis tenure has been a black hole, punctuated\u00a0by him missing his fourth straight game Saturday because of an illness as the Warriors fell to the Lakers,129-101<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Golden State Warriors forward Kristaps Porzingis (with towel) watches the action against the Boston Celtics from the bench during the first quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

They sure could\u2019ve used the 7-foot-2 big man, who draws fouls and is a silky 3-point shooter on a night when they had only nine free-throw attempts (less than half as many as the Lakers) and were outshot from beyond the arc, 46.3 percent to 27.3 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Porzingis\u2019 current illness is apparently contagious and has caused him to lose fluids. It supposedly has nothing to do with the\u00a0extended illness he battled during his final season in Boston and limited him to just 17 games with Atlanta this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That longterm illness was postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) \u2014 or so we thought.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where things get even more murky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kerr went on local Bay Area radio Friday and revealed that Porzingis doesn\u2019t have POTS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read about the POTS diagnosis and called the Hawks\u00a0[general manager] Onsi Saleh,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cHe\u2019s a good friend of mine and I said, \u2018Is this POTS story real?\u2019 He said it\u2019s actually not POTS. That was some misinformation out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked for clarification Saturday, Kerr essentially issued a retraction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a stupid mistake by me to talk about something that I\u2019m not qualified to talk about,\u201d he said. \u201cI regretted even trying to discuss the diagnosis. That was my mistake and I need to leave that to the professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golden State Warriors center Kristaps Porzingis gestures after making a 3-point basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics in San Francisco, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jeff Chiu) AP<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to makes heads and tails of what\u2019s going on,\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it has been that kind of a season for the Warriors, who lost Jimmy Butler to a torn ACL last month and have been without Steph Curry (runner\u2019s knee)<\/a> for 10 straight games. Now, the\u00a0Warriors are just trying to keep their heads above water long enough to make the play-in tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For that to happen, they need Porzingis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the Warriors pulled the trigger on Porzingis, it was a smart move. Things had become untenable with Kuminga, who viewed himself as a star while the team just wanted him to star in his role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kuminga\u2019s relationship with Kerr degenerated. His play was inconsistent. Eventually, things became so unworkable that he played in only three games from Dec. 6 until he was traded just under two months later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors tried to take a big swing at the trade deadline for Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the Milwaukee Bucks decided to hold onto their superstar. So, the Warriors pivoted to Porzingis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Porzingis seemed like a great get.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He fills a lot of the Warriors\u2019 holes. He mixes things up down low and has a shot that needs to be respected, which opens up the court for everyone around him. If Butler weren\u2019t injured and Porzingis wasn\u2019t a giant question mark, the Warriors could be really good. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Golden State Warriors center Kristaps Porzingis guards Boston Celtics center Nikola Vucevic during the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

But the problem is that\u2019s a lot of hypotheticals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Porzingis has only played in one game for the Warriors so\u00a0far against Boston on Feb. 19. He finished with 12 points in 17 minutes, including making two 3-pointers.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of upside there. But if he can\u2019t stay on the court, it\u2019s all for naught.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far, the Warriors have traded a guy who was ill-fitted for a guy who can\u2019t stay in uniform. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on? Is Porzingis actually really going to be able to play? What even is his illness?<\/p>\n

When the Warriors acquired Porzingis, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said he believed he\u2019d be able to make an impact. \u201cWe feel good about it,\u201d he said. Porzingis added that he was \u201cconfident\u201d he\u2019d be on the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But so far, there are more questions than answers around Porzingis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, without Butler, Curry and Porzingis, the Warriors allowed a Lakers team that had lost three games in a row to stop the bleeding with a blowout win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors still believe anything could happen if they make the play-in tournament<\/a>. And they\u2019re not wrong. With Curry, anything is possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But without Porzingis, nothing is possible. Not without Butler,\u00a0too. Curry and Draymond Green just wouldn\u2019t have enough help.<\/p>\n

Kristaps Porzingis and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors smile before the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on February 7, 2026 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jim Poorten\/NBAE via Getty Images) NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

So, while the Kuminga experiment was a failure, the Porzingis experiment\u00a0so far is an enigma.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All we really know is he has missed seven of the team\u2019s eight games since becoming a Warrior, leaving Green to try and lead a developing team as Curry rehabs his knee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking forward, Kerr is unsure whether Porzingis will play against the Clippers on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much uncertainty around the big man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the Warriors, it means they went from having a Kuminga issue to a Porzingis disappearing act. <\/p>\n

Or, in other words, they traded a headache for knots in their stomach.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Warriors traded someone who didn\u2019t work for someone who can\u2019t work. They wouldn\u2019t play Jonathan Kuminga. They…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,160,46,164,871,6,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-632639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-celtics","14":"tag-golden-state-warriors","15":"tag-kristaps-porzingis","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116154960848862258","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}