The Golden State Warriors just traded for Kristaps Porzingis, but they are doomed to learn the reality of having him on the roster. He’s a very impactful player when healthy, but he hasn’t been able to stay healthy for a long, long time. It’s a reality that the Boston Celtics came to know all too well by the time his time with the organization came to a close.
Golden State traded Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Porzingis, pairing the big man up with his former Boston teammate, Al Horford. Now, he’ll be tasked with helping Stephen Curry compete for another championship.
But it will be an uphill battle.
Kristaps Porzingis can never stay healthy
Porzingis was diagnosed with POTS, which explained a lot of the issues he was dealing with throughout the end of the 2024-25 regular season and into the playoffs.
He missed a chunk of time at the end of the year, and once the playoffs came around, he was in and out of the lineup. And even when Porzingis was on the court, he wasn’t himself.
In the Celtics’ first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic, Porzingis struggled. He didn’t shoot the ball particularly well and wasn’t capitalizing on mismatches in the same way he did during the Celtics’ 2024 NBA Championship run.
But it was more than that. Even the most obvious mismatches weren’t working for Porzingis. Cory Joseph and Gary Harris guarded him for long stretches inthe post, and Porzingis wasn’t able to take advantage.
It was painfully obvious that Porzingis’ energy was completely sapped. And since nobody could figure out what was wrong, he was left to deal with the issue without knowing what it was.
Now that Porzingis knows that he has POTS, it can be addressed, but that doesn’t fully solve the issue. It still affects Porzingis, and he’s missed time this season, too.
Plus, in addition to the ailment, Porzingis has a long, consistent history of injuries. He’s almost never been able to stay on the floor. And for the Warriors, that could be a problem.
It seems inevitable that Porzingis will have to miss some time in Golden State, and the Warriors are doomed to learn that painful realization.
And when that time comes, the Warriors will learn what the Celtics already know: As great as Porzingis is when he’s on the court, keeping him there is a seemingly impossible task.