The Golden State Warriors may have traded Jonathan Kuminga away at the deadline, but they still have a highly-paid frontcourt player who rarely plays.
Kristaps Porzingis will be staying in the Bay Area while the Warriors visit the New Orleans Pelicans and the Memphis Grizzlies Tuesday and Wednesday. He’s still struggling with an illness that kept him out of Sunday’s upset win over the Denver Nuggets, though the team hasn’t specified whether it’s a new ailment or the same nervous system disorder that’s plagued Porzingis for the last two seasons.
The 30-year-old big man has been diagnosed with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), a condition that can cause his heart rate to rapidly accelerate when he stands up. Which is unfortunately a large part of participating in NBA basketball games. The condition has to do with the body poorly regulating blood flow from the lower extremities to the rest of the body, which is likely worse when the body in question stands 7 feet, 2 inches tall.
Porzingis and his doctors have attempted to manage the disorder with a high-salt diet and scheduled rests, but he played only 42 games for the Boston Celtics last season and only 17 for the Atlanta Hawks before the Kuminga trade. He scored 12 points in 17 minutes in his lone appearance for the Warriors last Thursday.
It’s a logical time for Porzingis to skip a road trip, given that it’s only a two-nighter and it’s followed by two rest days before the Warriors face the Los Angeles Lakers in a nationally-televised matchup. He could face his old teammate Luka Doncic, who played with “Tingus Pingus” after the Dallas Mavericks also made a hopeful deadline trade for the big man, even though he wasn’t playing.
Draymond Green missed Sunday’s game as well, but he will be traveling with the team on their Delta Doubleheader. He’s officially questionable for Tuesday’s game. Steph Curry’s injured knee will be evaluated again March 1, while his brother’s back troubles will be re-evaluated some time in the next two weeks.