What We Know About the Kristaps Porziņģis Situation and What the Warriors Might Do Next

On Wednesday, the Kristaps Porziņģis saga in Golden State took another unforeseen turn.

The veteran big man, who was traded to the Warriors at last year’s deadline and signed a two-year deal over the offseason to stick around, has yet to join the team this season amid an ongoing battle with POTS. Comments from the organization painted an unclear picture of what exactly Porziņģis was dealing with, when he might be able to return to the court and whether he’s been around the team at all.

Then the news broke from ESPN’s Shams Charania that Porziņģis is “seriously contemplating” his future in basketball as he continues to deal with a POTS diagnosis; as a result the Warriors are looking into trade options.

“Golden State has started exploring trade routes for Kristaps Porziņģis, who is now seriously contemplating his future in basketball as he deals with recurring symptoms from the autoimmune condition termed as POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome),” Charania reported. “Porziņģis is on a trade-flexible contract for $20 million this season and a small partial (guarantee) next year, serving as essentially an expiring deal that the Warriors can utilize, potentially with their pool of assets. He first revealed his POTS diagnosis last year and has had ups and downs with the issue. If there is no breakthrough in recovery, stepping away from basketball—for good—is possible.”

Porziņģis has been battling this condition since 2025, but this is the first time he’s considered retiring as a result. It’s a shocking turn of events around a scary and uncertain situation. Ahead of Golden State’s opening night game on Wednesday, the team released a statement in response to Charania’s report.

“In response to today’s media report regarding Kristaps Porziņģis, we are not going to comment on trade speculation or reports regarding his health-related matter or future. As noted last week, conversations between the Warriors, Kristaps and his representatives will remain private. We are not anticipating Kristaps being around the team in the immediate future. We’ll provide additional updates when available and appropriate.”

Here’s what we know about Porziņģis’s situation and what the Warriors could do next:

Porziņģis has been dealing with this condition for nearly two years

Kristaps Porzingis — Porziņģis has been limited over the last few seasons due to his POTS diagnosis. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Porziņģis is a truly unique player on the NBA floor when healthy, but injuries have consistently plagued him. At his best you can see why he originated the term “unicorn.” He can protect the rim with the best centers while shooting the ball like an All-Star guard, even launching threes from Steph Curry distances. There aren’t many true stretch centers who can serve as a defensive cornerstone, but the few who can are among the most valuable players in the NBA today. Porziņģis was, in many ways, the first; his primary flaw was a constant stream of injuries that kept him out of important playoff games with the Knicks, Mavericks and Celtics. That always hovered above his career.

However, the back half of the 2024–25 season brought a new issue: a condition that severely hampered him. After helping Boston win a championship the previous year, Porziņģis missed 14 games after the 2025 All-Star Game with a condition that was not identified. Then the playoffs began and the former All-Star center was a shell of himself, unable to move at the level an NBA athlete should. It was shocking and frightening to witness. At one point Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla revealed he had to sideline the Latvian big man because he was having trouble breathing against the Knicks in the postseason.

That offseason Porziņģis was traded to the Hawks as Boston was forced to shed salary due to second apron restrictions. Upon arriving in Atlanta he revealed he’d been diagnosed with POTS; it was the first official diagnosis made public after months of confusion. He appeared in 17 games before getting traded to the Warriors last February as Golden State finally moved on from Jonathan Kuminga. Porziņģis played 15 games next to Curry, including both play-in games, before the Warriors’ season came to an end.

At that point, the situation with Porziņģis seemed stable—his condition had to be managed, but he could still put in 20 or so minutes per night. Thus, the Dubs signed him to a two-year extension worth $20 million annually in free agency that included a player option for the 2027–28 season and a partial guarantee of $3 million. At best, he’d rediscover something resembling his previous form and offer the Warriors a stretch five the likes of which Curry has never really played with. At worst, his availability and impact would be inconsistent but the front office would have a $20 million salary to wield in trade talks.

Then training camp began and Porziņģis was nowhere to be seen. The franchise didn’t offer much clarity in terms of what was going on and his teammates didn’t seem to know much. Discussion around the situation got to the point where the center himself felt obligated to clarify things.

“Hello people, I'm working with doctors and experts to figure out how to be fully back to good health asap,” Porziņģis said from his social media accounts on Oct. 14. “Honestly, I'm getting better and better. I just have to stay patient, and I believe I'll be feeling great again soon. It has definitely been frustrating dealing with some health stuff that you can't exactly pinpoint, on top of injuries throughout my career, so it has added up for sure, but we will get through it. Health is wealth. Thank you for all the support.

“I appreciate all the internet doctors trying to diagnose and help, but I'm in the best hands. So everyone can relax now. And I don’t have HIV or AIDS.”

One week later, it looks as though the situation took a turn for the worse. It’s difficult to believe otherwise if Porziņģis is now evaluating whether basketball is in his future. A sad and difficult news development for all involved.

What the Warriors might do next

As Charania noted above, with Porziņģis’s season apparently in jeopardy, the Warriors are exploring trade options.

It will be a complicated endeavor, obviously, if Porziņģis is considering stepping away from the NBA. If a trade was pursued, Golden State would be looking for a team willing to take on his salary in order to free up cap space to pursue other players. Such a move would undoubtedly require the Warriors to include additional assets given the drastic uncertainty about Porziņģis’s future. The franchise is already thin on such assets after multiple swings and misses to improve the roster in Curry’s final years, so it will be tricky to navigate from a basketball perspective.

Ultimately, everybody’s priority should be Porziņģis’s health and well-being. But this newest development will have on-court ramifications as well. It may be a while before they are fully realized with how complicated the situation has become, though.

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