The Golden State Warriors traded for Kristaps Porzingis at the deadline, and in their tough loss to the Boston Celtics on February 19, he showed flashes of why the move was genius. The shots Porzingis was hitting, and the runs he helped spark, are proof of how electric the Warriors’ offense could be with him and Stephen Curry running the show, and when you consider the fact that he's on an expiring contract, it makes the whole situation even better.
Since Curry took over the franchise, the Warriors haven’t had a true floor-spacing big man. They’ve had some platoon guys, but nobody who spaces the floor and protects the rim as well as Porzingis does. Thursday night was the first flash of that.
And the Warriors should be hoping for more of it moving forward.
Kristaps Porzingis showed a flash vs. Celtics (and his contract is the cherry on top)
Golden State got demolished by the Celtics on Thursday. At one point, the game looked like it was en route to a 30-point blowout. But the fourth quarter changed everything.
In the first few minutes, the Warriors went on a run, and by the end of the game, Boston was the one on its back heels. And Porzingis’ scoring played a big part in the comeback attempt.
The Warriors’ new big man finished the game with 12 points, one rebound, one assist, and one block while shooting 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-5 from beyond the three-point line.
Having a guy like Porzingis available for when (or if) Curry returns would be a huge advantage. Those two, plus Draymond Green’s passing, should give Golden State some great advantages on the offensive end.
Teams can’t guard everybody at once. The pick-and-roll with Porzingis and Curry should be great, and if the Warriors wanted to throw Green into the action as well, they could have even more options.
But the real positive to the Porzingis trade is what the Warriors gave up, and what they gave back. Or, more specifically, the contracts they gave up, and the contract they got back.
The Warriors had to trade Jonathan Kuminga. It was long overdue. Getting off his contract should have been priority No. 1 at the trade deadline. And they were able to do that.
They got back Porzingis - who is on an expiring contract. Being able to be free of that money at the end of the season will give the Warriors a ton of flexiblity.
So, not only did Porzingis make the trade look genius in his debut game, but his contract also makes the deal a low-risk, high-reward move.