Kristaps Porzingis is uncertain of his next step as he heads toward unrestricted free agency after the Warriors‘ season ended Friday with a play-in loss at Phoenix, writes Melissa Rohlin of The California Post.
The health problems that have followed Porzingis through most of his career continued after he was traded to Golden State in February. A lingering battle with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) contributed to him playing just 15 of a possible 31 regular season games after joining the Warriors. It’s also causing him to reflect on the current state of his career before making any decisions about his future.
“That’s a good question,” Porzingis responded when Rohlin asked if he wants to re-sign with Golden State. “I do love my time here, honestly. Not one bad thing I can say about the organization, the team, the teammates. I really love it here, I really do. As I said before, I haven’t had a good year. If I had a good year, I think I’d have a more clear picture of what I want to do. Because I’ve had an up-and-down year like this, this is an offseason in my career that I think I’m just going to take a step back, look at the whole picture and then see what’s the best direction for me.”
Porzingis averaged 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists with the Warriors and showed occasional flashes of brilliance despite the health issues. One of them came during Wednesday’s play-in victory over the Clippers when he contributed 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in 28 minutes and looked like a natural fit alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
“[Wednesday] honestly was a big step forward for me,” Porzingis said. “To have a game like this, it means a lot. To pull it out of somewhere, and it was there. Definitely a big step in the right direction.”
Rohlin notes that if Porzingis wants to remain with Golden State, he’ll likely have to accept a large reduction in salary. He made $30.7MM this season in the final year of an extension he got from Boston, but the Warriors won’t be in position to pay him nearly that much. They’re also facing other roster decisions such as a potential extension for Curry and the possible trade of Green or Jimmy Butler in pursuit of a superstar.
Even with Porzingis’ frequent absences, Rohlin states that the team likes the way he fit in over the past two months and will have interest in keeping him if the money can be worked out.
“Kristaps was fantastic,” coach Steve Kerr said after Friday’s loss, which saw Porzingis struggle with ankle soreness. “He changed our team. The dynamic of having that floor spacing and shot-blocking.”
Bring him back to the Celtics. The fans love him and he loved playing in Boston. He was a salary cap casualty this year. I’m hoping there’s some mutual interest between him and GM Brad Stevens if the price is right. He wouldn’t start with Queda now firmly planted at center but less minutes is what he needs at this point in his career.
I could see that happening, but do the Celtics have that kind of financial room and are they willing to use it on this guy? His lack of availability is a major drawback.
If (big if) KP got healthy than he should be able to get back in the starting lineup either over Queta or with Queta
The Warriors are going to offer a pretty small dollar amount and maybe only two years.
Porziņģis knows it, the Warriors know it, his agent knows it, and the league knows it.
Some team will come in at probably double what the Dubs will commit to for two years and that’s what he’ll wind up taking.
Sure he enjoyed his time here but an NBA job in almost any city is worth moving to for double the salary.
GSW may value Porzingis more than any other team, but another factor that may weigh more:
GSW already had, by far, the oldest and most injured core in the NBA. Do they really want to add the NBA poster-child for unavailability to the mix?
DKNP has averaged 44 games per season the last 10 seasons. He hasn’t disappointed in his brief tenure in The Bay, in which time he discredited even Rick Celebrini, whose declaration of DKNP’s fitness upon examination in Atlanta was a requirement for the Kuminga trade.
True to form, DKNP missed 13 of his 28 regular season Warriors games, with no less than 7 (“seven”) medical conditions listed in the 11 reports submitted to the league in that time. He also left the 2nd play-in game due to injury.
Oh my gawd, a free agent to be is not sure where he’ll play next season…Profound…Insightful…ChatGPT could have written this. They all say that. They are trying to find leverage. He doesn’t have much.
Ari’s post is a bunch of BS. Porzingis never discredited Celebrini. He praised him. Celebrini never to Atlanta to examine Porzingis. Celebrini wasn’t even in the country. This is well known.