The Warriors said Wednesday that Kristaps Porziņģis will not be around the team in the immediate future as he takes time away to explore remedies for a chronic medical issue. That is a sharper turn than the plan outlined only a week earlier, when the team said he would still spend time with staff and teammates in some capacity while remaining out indefinitely.
Porziņģis, 31, made the reason for the search public last Wednesday in a social media post saying he was working with doctors and experts to get fully back to good health as soon as possible. He said he was getting better and better, that he needed to stay patient, and that he believed he would feel great again soon. He also described the process as frustrating and said the health problems had added up.
That is why the change lands now. Asked before the Warriors' season opener on the road against the Lakers, Steve Kerr said he did not know what had changed. He said he and Porziņģis had stayed in touch by text and phone, but that the team had put out its statement and there was not much more to it. In other words, the public explanation has narrowed even as the status has become less certain.
The gap matters because the Warriors had already signaled a different expectation. On October 13, Porziņģis came to Chase Center for meetings with Mike Dunleavy and Dr. Rick Celebrini, and last Wednesday the team framed his situation as one in which he would still spend time around the group while sidelined. Now he will be away from the team altogether for the immediate future, while conversations between the Warriors, Porziņģis and his representatives remain private.
That privacy leaves the central question unanswered: what exactly is the chronic medical issue driving this? Dunleavy offered no details on media day last month and did not describe it as a long-term concern. Kerr had already called the matter mysterious back in March, when Porziņģis missed time. The center did not travel with the team to Hawaii for training camp, a sign that the uncertainty has been building for weeks rather than days.
Porziņģis signed a two-year, $40 million contract in late June after joining Golden State at the February trade deadline from Atlanta in a swap that sent Buddy Hield and Jonathan Kuminga to the Hawks. He played only 32 games last season combined with the Hawks and Warriors, including 15 games with 11 starts for Golden State, so the club has already lived with long stretches without him. Wednesday's update does not answer when that changes, only that the next update will come when the team decides it can be shared.
