On the day the Golden State Warriors’ season begins, the team is reportedly already looking to trade Kristaps Porzingis because the out-of-action center is mulling retirement and ghosting the team.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater, the Warriors are “exploring trade routes” for moving Porzingis, who is out indefinitely with a health issue that is related to his past diagnosis of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). According to Charania, “stepping away from basketball — for good — is possible” for the Latvian center.
When the Warriors signed the big man to a two-year, $40 million deal this summer, the expectation was that he would be the team’s starting center. Golden State leadership didn’t make any other major moves, building off general manager Mike Dunleavy’s end-of-last-season sentiment that the Warriors were competitive with the top of the NBA up until they lost Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody to season-ending injuries.
Considering his condition, the Warriors smartly built a bit of an escape hatch into the Porzingis contract — though whether it actually opens when they need it remains to be seen. The contract is a flat $20 million for each season, allowing it to be traded instantly, and also has only $3 million guaranteed for next year. Because of that, it can be treated like an expiring contract — which some NBA teams absolutely love as a way to free up salary cap space and offload lengthy bad contracts — and might make it easier to find a trade partner. With the salary cap at $165 million right now and going up next year, paying $3 million while cutting Porzingis to open up a roster spot would be a relative pittance for other teams. But that all assumes the Warriors, who dealt for a guy with a monumental asterisk in the first place, can 1) get a deal done and 2) are willing to also send additional compensation alongside Porzingis if necessary.
The cherry on top, though, appears to be the fact that the Warriors sure seem frustrated with how Porzingis is handling his absence.
When the Warriors announced his indefinite absence after meeting with Dunleavy and Rick Celebrini, the team’s renowned vice president of player health and performance, the team said Porzingis was expected to remain at the team facilities. (On the same day, Porzingis released a statement where he, in part, responded to internet trolls and conspiracy theorists by saying he does not have HIV or AIDS.) But according to ESPN, Porzingis hasn’t been around the team since training camp began, save for one single day of a meeting with the team.
A few hours after ESPN’s initial report, the Warriors released a statement on Wednesday saying the team is “not anticipating Kristaps being around the team in the immediate future,” effectively confirming ESPN’s reporting on his absences.
The Warriors start their 2026-27 NBA season on Wednesday night, facing the Lakers at 7 p.m. on ESPN.