Stephen Curry's return to the Golden State Warriors was an exhilarating one on Sunday night at Chase Center, but it also coincided with an underwhelming performance from Kristaps Porzingis who fouled out early in the fourth-quarter.
There was great anticipation of the Curry-Porzingis combination playing together for the first time, but a massive question still surrounds that and time is running out before the Warriors have to make a decision on the veteran center in the offseason.
Warriors have to get answer on Stephen Curry-Kristaps Porzingis pairing
Sunday's game was one of Porzingis' more disappointing ones in recent weeks, having struggled to make an impact on either end of the floor as the Warriors fell to a 117-116 loss despite a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback after the Latvian fouled out.
The Curry-Porzingis pairing should work perfectly in theory, but the front office will want to see it in reality before committing what may still be a $20+ million per year contract to their recent trade acquisition come free agency.
With Curry returning with just five games left in the regular season, Golden State are running out of time to see their two biggest offensive weapons in action together while Jimmy Butler remains sidelined by his torn ACL.
Porzingis essentially wasted the first opportunity on Sunday, committing six fouls in only eight second-half minutes which forced him to depart the game with over 10 minutes remaining. The former All-Star big had nine points, eight rebounds and three assists, shooting just 3-of-9 from the floor while being torched defensively by Alperun Sengun on multiple occassions.
With Curry coming off the bench and Porzingis in foul trouble, the pair only played eight minutes together. The Warriors did have a 24.3 net rating in those minutes, but that might have been more to do with the greatness of the 2x MVP rather than any telling story on Porzingis.
Time is running out on Curry-Porzingis chemistry
Rushing the 38-year-old back into the starting lineup might not just help the Warriors overall, but could help evaluate the combination of he and Porzingis before the season comes to a close.
Golden State only have four regular season games remaining which includes a back-to-back, meaning Curry and Porzingis will only get three games plus however far the team goes in the Play-In Tournament/postseason.
Given the Warriors are locked into the 10th-seed and therefore the win-loss results don't matter as much, prioritizing the Curry-Porzingis minutes is worthwhile in time for the Play-In and answering the question over Porzingis' future during the offseason.