SAN FRANCISCO – It's difficult to say when Kristaps Porzingis will return to the field for the Golden State Warriors.
After debuting against the Boston Celtics, the Dubs' trade deadline acquisition has missed the last five games due to an illness that the team has not publicly classified or defined, with details about what Porzingis specifically is doing remain sparse.
Before the Warriors' game with the Los Angeles Clippers, coach Steve Kerr described the nature of Porzingis' illness in non-descriptive terms.
"It's a little mysterious," Kerr told reporters. "We're obviously working with him and hoping he can get some clarity, and he can kind of move forward and get to a point where he's going to be consistently healthy. But it's something the medical staff is working hard with him on, and, yes, I won't even offer any theories now, any medical theories."
The last part of Kerr's answer stems from the confusion he caused regarding Porzingis' illness when he said in a radio interview that his previous postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) diagnosis was "misinformation", and that a different illness had forced him to miss a game for Atlanta last year.
Kerr later walked back those comments, and told reporters that what he said was a "stupid mistake" and that he regretted trying to talk about something he is not able to talk about professionally. Now, Kerr's return doesn't mean Porzingis' current ailment is due to POTS. However, this creates a bleak picture about his condition, the nature of his illness and when he will return.
What we know about Porzingis' situation
We know very little about Porzingis' condition, as Kerr declined to share specific information about his condition. But what we do know is that Porzingis was able to practice on Friday of last week, when the Dubs returned from their quick two-game, back-to-back road trip. It was his first practice since falling ill, which seemed like an encouraging development ahead of their Saturday game with the Los Angeles Lakers.
But things apparently took a turn for the worse as he was ejected from the Lakers game the next day. And then today before the Clippers game, Porzingis was not at the Warriors' shootaround this morning.
As for how he's doing emotionally, Kerr said the two of them talked today.
"Spoke to him today. We had a good conversation and he's OK," Kerr shared. "I mean, he obviously wants to come back and wants answers. And we're going to continue to support him."
Despite this, this is a precarious situation for the Warriors as they were counting on him to get a boost after the trade deadline. They finally sealed the Jonathan Kuminga era and hope to turn over a new leaf with the size, skill and defense that Porzingis is capable of when fully healthy.
But he is not healthy. And while the Warriors made this trade knowing full well the risk, as Kerr and Mike Dunleavy have said publicly, it's clear that the gamble hasn't paid off at all so far.
For now, the Dubs will continue to monitor Porzingis' health as uncertainty looms over his return date.
