Kristaps Porzingis will not travel with the Golden State Warriors to Hawaii for training camp, which opens Tuesday, after a “health issue” sidelined him just days before the team left San Francisco.
General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. announced the news Monday at the team’s media day, saying the 7-foot-4 center is out “indefinitely.” Dunleavy offered no specifics on what is wrong with Porzingis and said he was only informed of the issue Sunday, despite Porzingis having been medically cleared and working out on the court as recently as last week.
“I’m not marking him down as being out to start the season or anything like that,” Dunleavy said. “He’s just not available this week. … Disappointed that he won’t be out there tomorrow, but it’s early, so don’t want to overreact to anything.”
Head coach Steve Kerr said he learned of the situation Sunday night when Dunleavy called him.
“It was surprising. This is all part of the season. The health of the team, things happen. So you just roll with it and keep moving forward. We don’t really know what it means. I don’t have a whole lot of information for you. We fully expect him to be with us at some point,” Kerr said.
Porzingis, 31, has struggled to stay on the floor since Golden State acquired him from the Atlanta Hawks. He played just 15 games last season but finished healthy, appearing in the Warriors’ play-in loss. In those 15 games he averaged 16.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 23.7 minutes.
The Latvian big man has previously been diagnosed with POTS, a rare nervous system condition that has interrupted his availability over the past two seasons. Dunleavy said he could not confirm whether that condition is behind the current issue.
Porzingis isn’t the only Warrior working back from health setbacks. Jimmy Butler III is recovering from ACL surgery and Moses Moody from patellar tendon surgery. Both have progressed to light on-court work and are still expected to join the team for training camp, according to the Warriors.
