Warriors’ Steve Kerr Admits Kristaps Porziņģis Diagnosis Quote Was a ‘Stupid Mistake’

The Warriors lost to the Lakers on Saturday night, 129–101, as Golden State continues to struggle without the presence of superstar Steph Curry. Curry has been out since January with “runner’s knee” and the update he gave on his recovery during last night’s loss didn’t inspire much hope he’d be back soon. In theory the Dubs could tread water until he’s back, but that’s proven a difficult task and will be even harder if Kristaps Porziņģis can’t get back on the floor.

The franchise acquired Porziņģis in exchange for the disgruntled Jonathan Kuminga ahead of this year’s deadline. The Latvian big man has played only one game since joining Golden State on Feb. 5, however, and has been ruled out of the last four Warriors games with an illness designation. That is not necessarily unexpected given what’s transpired with Porziņģis health-wise in the last 10 months.

Porziņģis was heavily impacted by illness during last year’s playoff run with the Celtics and wound up getting traded to the Hawks over the offseason. Thanks to a combination of the same illness and other injuries the big man limited to 17 games played for Atlanta; in an interview with The Athletic just before the season began, he revealed he’d been diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, also known as POTS. The Warriors knew this when trading for him and bet he’d be available to play nonetheless down the stretch of a critical season.

Coach Steve Kerr went on the radio last week to discuss the situation and raised eyebrows around the NBA world when he said the big man didn’t actually have POTS.

“When I heared about the trade,” Kerr said on 95.7 The Game, “I read about the POTS diagnosis and I called [Hawks general manager] Onsi Saleh ... I called him and said, ‘Is this POTS story real?’ He said it’s actually not POTS. That was some misinformation that was out there.”

On Saturday Kerr was asked about this statement and he effectively walked back the comments, calling it a “stupid mistake” to weigh in on Porziņģis’s medical details.

“It was a stupid mistake by me to talk about something I'm not qualified to talk about,” Kerr told reporters after declining to give specifics on what Porziņģis is battling. “I regret it. Even trying to discuss the diagnosis, that was my mistake. I need to leave that to professionals.”

Steve Kerr called it a “stupid mistake” for him to speak on Kristaps Porzingis’ health status on the radio last night. Porzingis remains out tonight for a fourth straight game with an illness.

Here is the full soundbite on his status pic.twitter.com/wMS4CRDPo9
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 28, 2026

It is a complicated and odd situation. We’ve never really seen anything like Porziņģis’s issue in recent NBA history. But speculating openly about a diagnosis is more likely to do harm than good and it didn’t take long for Kerr to recognize that after his “mistake” on Friday.

This year Porziņģis is averaging 16.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 18 games played. If he can get healthy enough to play for Golden State this season the Warriors desperately need him. Porziņģis brings a rare skillset to the table as a true two-way stretch center and, with Jimmy Butler sidelined due to an ACL tear, is the only non-Curry player capable of suddenly popping off for a big night against a good team. But as the world saw during last year’s Knicks-Celtics series, Porziņģis being healthy enough to play and being healthy enough to play like a star are two different categories.

A situation worth monitoring in Golden State. Porziņģis’s next opportunity to suit up will come on Monday against the Clippers.

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.