Stephon Castle apparently wasn’t feeling the heat in Madison Square Garden. 

Castle, who shot 37.7 percent from the field in the Knicks’ five-game NBA Finals series win, said he was unfazed by the Knicks in Games 3 and 4. 

“It was underwhelming in that first game,” Castle said of the MSG crowd. “They made it seem like it was going to be way crazier in there.”

Castle did have his best game of the NBA Finals in Game 3, shooting 8-for-14 (57.1 percent), scoring 23 points and adding five rebounds and five assists in a 115-111 victory for the Spurs.

“OKC was way louder than MSG,” added Castle, in reference to the Spurs’ prior Western Conference Finals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Though, that was the Thunder’s only victory in the series, as Oklahoma City blew both games at home and were down 0-2 going into Game 3.

The comments are at least a little surprising, though, as the Thunder appeared to be seriously rattled by the environment at MSG as they blew a 29-point second half lead, as the score was 81-52 with 9:40 left in the third quarter before the roof caved in on Mitch Johnson’s group. 

After OG Anunoby’s game-winning tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining in Game 4, a star-studded Knicks fanbase littered with stars off the court, including Jerry Seinfeld, Taylor Swift, Larry David, and many more, were stunned on the court to see what had transpired. 

After the Game 4 collapse, Spurs players were left stunned looking for answers, with even star player Victor Wembanyama admitting that the team lost its hunger after taking a big lead. 

“It was painful, of course. It feels like we worked too hard and give up our leads. It’s as simple as that. It just hurts.” Wembanyama said at the time. “We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half… I can’t really explain it right now. I don’t know. I think it’s just execution, greediness of some sort. Stopped moving the ball. Stopped executing.”

The Spurs were among the youngest teams in the NBA last year and head into the new season with a still young cast but more battle-tested than in years past having eliminated the Thunder in the playoffs and leading in every NBA Finals game.

For most people outside the Knicks, Mitchell Robinson leaving in free agency was an expected outcome. 

Apparently, that wasn’t the case inside the organization, at least for the players. 

“That hurt,” Karl-Anthony Towns said during the team’s Media Day on Monday. “I was very surprised. I was very surprised that Mitch wasn’t gonna be back here with us. I think all of us were, so it was a surprise to everybody. I thought something would get done there.” 

Robinson signed a three-year, $47.4 million deal with the rival Celtics in free agency.

The Knicks, operating under owner James Dolan’s edict to remain below the second apron and avoid its financial penalties, were not able to make a competitive offer to Robinson, the only significant departure from their championship-winning team. 

“I was heartbroken with that one. That’s one of my guys,” Josh Hart said. “I love him. Obviously, he was drafted here, gave his heart to the city. That’s why people haven’t repeated [as champions] for the last eight years because of that second apron and that CBA. Obviously, extremely gutted when he left, but I wish him well all but the four times that we play them. But I got love for him. He helped us win a championship, and he should always be loved and shown love in the city and in the arena.” 

The Knicks pivoted to budget option Andre Drummond, signing him to a one-year deal for the veteran minimum. He is set to serve as the team’s backup center behind Towns. 

“Definitely tough,” Jalen Brunson said. “That’s my guy, and it just — I think, no matter what, I feel I’m happy for him. Obviously, it’s another opportunity. He got paid, as well. It’s definitely difficult, but you love to see someone advance their generational wealth, so it’s cool to see from that aspect. And just getting Andre, we’re excited. I think he could be a big key to this team. I’ve known him from afar, but getting to know him now, it’s gonna be great.” 

---

Brunson has not yet watched his “Saturday Night Live” skits, so he can’t judge for himself or pick a favorite just yet. 

Hart can, though. 

“I don’t think he has a future in acting,” Hart said. 

---

Towns felt love from Knicks fans on the other side of the planet. 

He got married to Jordyn Woods this offseason, and the two honeymooned in Africa. 

“We went to Nairobi. We went to Kenya. We went to Tanzania,” Towns said. “And it was crazy just seeing — we’d be out in the Serengeti, and there were people in the open cars, in the wild going, ‘Knicks in five!’ That’s pretty crazy, actually.” 

The Cleveland Cavaliers have long searched for a true backup center to complement Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. Tristan Thompson and Robin Lopez were given chances in the past. Neither adequately filled that role. Thomas Bryant has been the latest person to try to do so.

Bryant was far from a consistent presence. While he provided energy on the floor, he also looked as erratic as prior holders of the backup center role at times. Bryant impacted games the most when his threes were falling. When they weren’t, he would just create poor spacing alongside Allen and Mobley.

As the Cavaliers decided to bring back Bryant for a second run, it felt like a cost measure and a locker room move rather than one based entirely on his play on the court. Bryant posted 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game for the Cavs last season. The three-point shot would come and go from game to game, but it never felt as impactful as one would have hoped.

If you are looking for reasons for optimism, you can look at the games in which Bryant saw more consistent playing time. Bryant played over 20 minutes in the regular season five times, in which he put up a respectable 12.6 points and 6.6 rebounds. While these are not stats that would have you clamoring for more, Bryant can still be serviceable when called on.

With Larry Nance Jr. off the roster and Khalifa Diop getting his legs under him, the roadmap is there for Bryant to get more run this season. Bryant had shown previously, especially in his postseason run with the Indiana Pacers in 2024-25, that he can provide impactful minutes. Obviously, that was two years ago. However, Bryant is not some washed-up veteran; at 29, it is more than fair to expect that he can get back to an impactful role.

With another year in Cleveland’s system, the coaching staff might have better ideas on how to utilize Bryant without creating spacing issues for the accompanying big going forward. For now, it appears that the realistic expectation is that Bryant will replicate the same production as last season. While not the most exciting option in the world, the Cavaliers have seen far less capable bigs assume the backup center role.

Whatever incremental improvements the Nets have made, they’ve been made without touching the league’s biggest cache of assets. 

What will determine when GM Sean Marks finally cashes some of them in? 

How quickly their young players develop, and what star becomes available. 

“Internally, it’s going to be on how the [young Nets] develop, right?” Marks said. “Whether it’s Egor [Dëmin], whether it’s Nolan [Traore] … it runs the gamut, across the whole lot of them. Who can take that next step? And we’ll get a good feel for, ‘OK, he’s playing above where expectations were,’ or, ‘He’s developed earlier than we may have thought.’ But it’s also a combination of what becomes available. 

“So you keep your flexibility. … We’re always listening. I’m not sure we’re going to be any more active than we’ve been in the past, but it doesn’t mean we’re not listening. It doesn’t mean we’re not shaking trees and seeing what’s out there, for sure. So a lot will be predicated first and foremost on what this roster looks like, and we’ll get a good feel for that pretty good.” 

---

Of those aforementioned youngsters, rookie Mikel Brown Jr. rolled his left ankle last week but is recovering and back out on the court on a limited basis. 

“Yeah, I’m doing everything possible to get back on the floor,” Brown said. “I’m back on the floor shooting and moving around a little bit. It’s coming along well. I’ve progressed very fast. We’re just attacking it. We’re attacking the rehab and taking it a day at a time.” 

Traore and Grant Nelson are both cleared to start camp after they missed Summer League, the former fully recovered from a right knee procedure and the latter back from a postseason knee procedure and early leg woes. 

“Physically, those guys are ready for camp,” Marks said. “Nolan will be ramped up a little bit, but at this time I don’t see him missing any days. Grant, same way. Grant is full-go now, which is great to see.” 

Traore looked visibly more muscular from last season. 

---

After the arrival of All-Star Julius Randle, Noah Clowney — who started 60 games last season — is going to lose shots and minutes. But he knows the path to preserving what playing time he can. 

“To be honest, be a better defender,” Clowney said. “You bring in more people who are going to have the ball on the offensive end… so you want to get the minutes, [I’ll get less shots], that’s the reality. So guarding, making the shots when they come, not forcing, keeping the offense flowing, simple stuff. 

“Roles are going to change — that’s a given. I’m probably not going to shoot as many shots as I shot last year. We all know that. But shoot better shots, keep the offense going. When your opportunity comes, make the most of it.” 

---

Josh Minott said he understood his role will change, running less offense but being a disruptor. 

“Everything starts defensively,” Minott said. “If you don’t have that, you really don’t have anything.”

A new era of Wizards basketball is upon us. And there’s a new way to follow along with your favorite team.

I’m launching a Substack called Wizards Central to cover the Wizards on-site and full-time.

You can visit the site using this link: https://wizardscentral.com

Subscribers will get access to coverage of all 82 games, including in-person coverage of all 41 home contests and at least half of the team’s road games.

Coverage will include:

• In-person coverage of all 41 home games and at least half of the team’s road games. Every game will be covered, whether on site (majority of games) or remote
• Game threads with notes from Brian Keefe’s pregame availability, injury updates and more
• Game stories from the arena immediately following the final buzzer
• The next morning: Additional game stories with quotes from Keefe, Trae Young, AJ Dybantsa and other Wizards players based on that night’s events
• Practice coverage — quotes from post-practice media sessions, shootaround observations and more
• Breaking news coverage — Injury updates, trades, signings
• Feature stories — long-form articles about all of your favorite Wizards players
• Access to every episode of The Wizards Podcast
• And so much more

Ever wondered what the Wizards’ salary cap sheet looks like? Confused about which picks the Wizards own and the complicated protections that follow?

The “Front Office” tab answers all those questions with easy-to-understand graphics and descriptions of Washington’s roster, cap sheet and future draft picks.

Subscriptions start at $6.99/month or $69.99/year. At an estimated 40 articles per month, each article will cost monthly subscribers just 17 cents.

Monthly and yearly subscriptions are available at this link: https://wizardscentral.com/subscribe  

While I’ll dedicate much of my time to in-depth Wizards coverage on my Substack, I’m staying with BulletsForever to provide the same rigorous coverage of this team.

A huge thank you to Albert Lee for supporting my work and allowing me to stay on with BF to continue providing Wizards coverage to a dedicated and passionate reader base.

I’ve spent the past four years diligently covering everything there was to know about the Wizards, the rebuild, arena renovations, trades and so much more. I hope you’ll join me for what could be the most exciting Wizards season in nearly a decade.

And now we get to the player takeaways from Media Day. If you didn’t catch my first article detailing the responses from Wes Edens, Jon Horst, and Taylor Jenkins, go check that out. Now, obviously it’s not practical to cover every player on the team, but I did my best to cover the most notable players, quotes, and tidbits, so here they are!

Myles Turner

Myles Turner was the first player to front the media. Turner’s opening question was about why he decided to organise a team minicamp in his home state of Texas.

“With having so many new players, I wanted to get everybody together and wanted everybody to have some fun,” Turner said. “A lot of guys had never been to Austin before. I’m Texas through and through; I just wanted to show off the city a bit.

“The camaraderie was great, and everybody showed up, so that’s one thing that I was really proud of. It just gave us a little extra time to get to know each other.”

Changing the topic, Turner was then asked how he defines himself as a leader on this young team. The 11-year vet emphasised that he understands the position he’s in and wants to set the right example for the younger players.

“I know guys will follow suit with the things that I do, the way that I carry myself… It goes so much more than your play… It’s the way that you carry yourself and the respect you command.”

Myles Turner

Regarding media expectations, Turner wasn’t interested in outside narratives, saying, “The only expectations are the ones we put on ourselves.”

“Just like everybody else, we want to win. But it’s one thing to want to win; it’s another thing to do the things that are required to win, and I think that’s more where our attention goes this year.”

Tyler Herro

Understandably, Herro had the longest presser out of all the players, but he answered each question with a lot of respect and grace, I thought. His first question centred around what’s changed about Milwaukee for him since he was drafted.

“When I grew up here, I spent a lot of time in the suburbs, not really downtown, and so I’ve obviously seen how much the city has grown since I’ve been gone for the last eight or nine years,” Herro said. “It’s a beautiful city; I love being here, and I’m excited to start a new era of basketball. The organisation is amazing… Just how they’ve welcomed me with open arms—I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Herro was asked whether the Heat players getting traded for Giannis meant they viewed themselves as “replacing” him, a notion he flatly dismissed.

“I don’t think we’re replacing Giannis. Obviously, he’s the greatest Buck that’s played for the organisation, but we’re not replacing him. It’s a new era… Building as a team, building as an organisation, and trying to get back to the mountaintop.”

Tyler Herro

Herro on what he feels his role will be on a new team, and whether there’s any trepidation:

“I feel like we’re all new. Taylor’s new; he’s got a brand-new coaching staff. The guys who came in the trade with me are new. We’ve got two or three rookies. Everybody’s here, and we’re all doing it together. It doesn’t really feel like I’m coming into somewhere where they’re not welcoming me with open arms… It feels like this is where I’m supposed to be”

One answer I really enjoyed was how Herro responded to a question about his goals for the season: “I don’t have any individual goals.”

“I feel like everything is around the group. When people try to write everyone off, especially after the trade we made, people feel like we’re not going to win games… That’s the opposite of what we’re thinking… We’re trying to win; we’re trying to compete. That’s my main goal: to help lead this team to as many wins as possible.”

Jaime Jaquez Jr.

There weren’t too many interesting notes from Jaquez’s presser, but his answer to a question about how he approaches the prospect of getting a rookie-scale extension done before the season begins was noteworthy:

“I approach it the same way I approach every day: just try to be as professional as I can be. I’m here to work. My contract is the one going into next year; that’s the only one I can really worry about… whatever happens will happen.”

“The first step to becoming a champion is to believe that you can be.”

Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Like Turner and Herro, Jaquez wasn’t fazed that the media doesn’t rate the Bucks very highly.

“I feel like I can keep my expectations pretty consistent no matter where I’m at,” Jaquez said. “The goal is always the same: you want to win as many games as you can and compete for a championship. The media says what they want to say, but what really matters is what the core group of guys believe.”

Brayden Burries and Nate Ament

As you can imagine, interviewing 19- and 20-year-olds never yields the deepest responses, but I thought Burries’ and Ament’s answers to 1) what the vets have taught them so far, and 2) what coach Jenkins has told them will help them get minutes, were both notable.

Burries: “The team that’s the most together is going to win a lot, but also the physicality… It’s a physical league, so just getting my mind and body ready for that.”

Ament: “Yeah, the NBA game is much different from the college game, but also just teaching me about the league… Things you should and shouldn’t do, requirements in your contract, and how to be a professional.”

“Cheese curds and Lake Michigan”

Nate Ament on his favourite things about Milwaukee so far.

Burries: “Impact winning outside of scoring. Rebounding, defending, being a great teammate, and being coachable. Even if you’re not playing, still having a positive mindset, and then once you get an opportunity, make the best of it.”

Ament: “Effort plays. We’re the youngest on the team, so giving energy every day, running the floor hard, playing defence—all those types of things.”  

Kasparas Jakucionis

“It means a lot”: Jakucionis on what the fresh start means to him.

“At the end of the day, it’s the same game. I’m excited to be here and give all out for this program.”

Kasparas Jakucionis

“I played for the University of Illinois not too long ago, so I’m familiar with the weather here,” the young Lithuanian said to some chuckles around the room. “I’m just excited to be here.”

Jakucionis also opened up on his turbulent offseason, saying that being traded was hard at first, but he soon realised he couldn’t control it, so he put his head down and focused on what he could.

Kel’el Ware

Ware was pretty short (but respectful) in most of his answers. However, I thought his response to a question about how he and his Heat teammates have transitioned to Milwaukee was notable. Ware said he thinks it’s gone smoothly for all four of them, but “the most smoothly” for him, as the Cream City reminded him of his hometown in Arkansas: “It wasn’t like a big change for me.”

“I like how calm it is. It’s slow-paced. That’s more my speed.”

Kel’el Ware on Milwaukee

Ware was also bullish on how he and Myles Turner could complement each other:

“We’re both bigs who can shoot, play down low, defend, and rebound. So if you have two bigs that are able to do that, that’s what you need.”

Kyle Kuzma

Fittingly, Kuz rounded out the day with a bunch of thoughtful responses, but I thought his best was his answer to how his myriad NBA experiences will help him lead this group.

“I know about a lot of different things you have to do for the team, and I’m somebody you can lean on for that. I think that’s what leadership and being a veteran is about.”

Kyle Kuzma

“This is my 10th year in the NBA, and it’s such a blessing… doing it for a decade, you get to learn a lot about yourself through trials and tribulations… We have some people on this team who have only played for one team in their life, and now they just got traded to a brand-new team—I know how that feels. I know guys who have played a role in a certain system that may be asked to do something else—I’ve done that a lot of different times.

Hilariously, Myles Turner dropped in to ask Kuzma about his skincare routine.

Washing your face, exfoliating, moisturising, and using serums were the four keys, according to Kuz. And on that note, we’re out.

What’s up, Brew Hoop family. After the longest offseason for Bucks fans in a while, the new season is finally upon us! I’m here with the first article from media day, plucking out the most newsworthy content from Bucks co-owner and governor Wes Edens’ solo presser, as well as Jon Horst and Taylor Jenkins’ joint presser. The second article includes the best player quotes. Enjoy!

Wes Edens

Wes Edens opened by saying the Bucks brass is “extremely excited” about the season ahead, but also thanked Giannis and his family for giving 13 years to the Bucks and the city of Milwaukee.

“It’s been a minute since we haven’t had [Giannis] in the building,” Edens said. “It’s good to acknowledge that, but it’s also a great time to change and move on.”

Moving to the coaching change, Edens drew on his experience as Aston Villa’s co-owner to discuss how coaching can impact a team and why choosing the right coach is crucial to success. Edens said he sees the qualities he was seeking in Taylor Jenkins, saying Jenkins may be “the biggest addition in the NBA offseason.”

“He was the guy that we wanted. We signed him to a long-term contract. He’s a known quantity to us because he was here before, then went off and had lots of success in Memphis. You take that and a refresh of the organisation and it’s a really exciting time.”

Wes Edens on Taylor Jenkins

When later asked what specifically he and the Bucks were looking for in their coaching search, he answered, “somebody who was going to be a builder.”

“Taylor is the right person at the right time,” Edens said. “He’s a known quantity… We know exactly what we are getting with him, and we feel really blessed he was available. He is a tremendous teacher… Look at some of the guys in Memphis and the impact he had on them; we think he can have a similar impact on some of our players”

Regarding Giannis, Edens was quizzed about what went into the decision not to trade him last offseason.

“We won more games from 2018 to 2023 than any other team in the league. We had massive amounts of success. It was the right decision in all of our ownership’s view to try to give that the best chance of having the next year of it. We did a bunch of very aggressive things. They were all with the intention of trying to give ourselves another chance to win a championship.

“But now you look around here, there’s no Giannis, there’s no Khris Middleton, there’s no Brook Lopez, no Jrue Holiday… but we have the next crop of these young folks here that have every right to believe they can be the next group that kind of builds towards that.”

“We don’t think of this as a rebuilding team; we think of this as a building team. There’s a big difference between the two, and I think we’re going to have a lot of success this year, but it’s certainly a big change.”

Wes Edens

Edens was also asked about the health of the fanbase after some low attendance numbers at Fiserv late last season:

“Wisconsin fans are fanatical sports fans,” Edens said. “Everything kind of goes through a cycle. Obviously when you’re winning 60 games a year, it’s not hard to fill up your stadium. When you win less than that, it’s a little more challenging. But we’ve made big investments not just to the arena and all the programming with it to create the best entertainment that we can.

“People spend a lot of money to come out on a Tuesday night in February; we want them to feel like they’ve had the best experience they can, not just on the court but off. I really believe that fans are very intelligent and are very authentic. If you’re authentic, they really respond to that, and you don’t have to win 75 games to have the arena full again. I feel like we’re going to have a really good year on the court and I think we’re going to have a good year off the court as well.”

Edens conceded that the new TV rights deal—which will have all 82 games broadcast for free over the air—would not be ideal for the organisation’s bottom line, but that it was the right move to make as this new era kicks off.

“We’re gonna be impacted negatively this year, but we made the decision to invest in the fan base and to reach a lot more people. People will get a great chance to see the product we put out there.”

Finally, Edens answered a direct question about whether he’s considered selling his stake in the team: “I haven’t.”

“I mean, circumstances change. You never know, but no, I have no plans to.”

Jon Horst and Taylor Jenkins

Jon Horst was asked the first question about his message to fans regarding the team’s direction as Milwaukee enters the post-Giannis era.

“We talked a lot about having a successful offseason, executing a successful draft, and hiring a great coach as the pillars of our focus when the season ended last year,” Horst said. “We sit here today feeling like we accomplished a number of those things.

“There’s a great level of energy and excitement, buy-in, collectively with the group, and that gives us a foundation to build from. Everything we’re going to do today and going forward is building a group and trying to do it together each and every day.”

Jenkins was then asked about what the word “culture” means to him and how he plans to implement it with the Bucks.

“Culture is more than a word; it’s behaviors and actions… This is all the idea of building the next great era of Bucks basketball… It boils down to who do we want to be and the behaviors that drive us every day.”

Taylor Jenkins

Of course, Horst was always going to be questioned on the elephant in the room: why he signed Gary Trent Jr. to a four-year, $64m deal.

“When you look at Gary Trent and what he’s done for us in the last two seasons… he’s an elite shooter… Only 27 years old. He was big for us in playoff moments, so there’s a big belief in Gary for what we think matters, and that’s elite shooting in the NBA; that’s hard to find. It’s something that Taylor values, and I think he’s even going to maximise more with us, so it was a great opportunity for us to do that, and we acted on it.”

Horst was tight-lipped when asked later about the NBA’s investigation into possible cap circumvention and how he justified Trent’s contract, responding, “We’re working with the league, and we can’t comment any further on that.” Both Wes Edens and Trent himself gave the same answer in their pressers.

Moving on, the players traded in from Miami were obviously a major topic of conversation, with Horst revealing that each of the four players being in the deal was pivotal to getting it across the line.

“We wouldn’t have done the trade without one of those players,” Horst said. “We went into this trying to get players who not only could help us compete now, but can also grow and develop as we go forward… They fit a culture and a style of play that we want to embody… They absolutely check the boxes we were trying to check if we were going to do a trade.”

“They’re the competitors we desire,” Jenkins added.

Another topic discussed was how the organisation plans to champion accountability after the mess that was last season. It sounded like Horst knew things had to change and was determined to make that happen.

“We’re here today talking about building a culture and identity of accountability,” Horst said. “We’ve got a group of guys that we think embody that and that are going to live that. Taylor is going to demand that each and every day, and quite frankly, if they don’t live by it, we’ll figure out the accountable actions and move forward from there.”

“We’ll talk about so many other things along our journey, but competitiveness is the number one thing… When we put on this jersey, and we know what we’re playing for, we’ve got to embody that with a competitive tone.”

Taylor Jenkins

When asked what he wants the team’s identity to be, Jenkins cited the team’s new mantra: “Compete. Together. Get Better,” which multiple players later repeated in their pressers.

“It starts with our competitiveness. I’m not going to guarantee wins and losses; we just talked with the team about developing our winning standards and habits. It starts with ‘Compete. Together. Get Better.’”

Horst closed by echoing Edens’ thought on this not being a “rebuild.”

“There’s an urgency to compete today. We believe that building the next great era of Bucks basketball has to have a foundation of competitiveness, and we have to instill that out of the gate. There is a patience component to this… but there’s not a complacency component to this.”

Kristaps Porziņģis' latest health problem is the same old story for the Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The vibe around media day throughout the NBA is akin to returning to school, seeing your friends after a summer away and getting the laughs out now that it’s time to get back to work.

For the Warriors, the vibe shifted early in the morning, long before the team boarded a plane to Hawaii for training camp. Everything changed in the opening statements from general manager Mike Dunleavy. As he started his ninth sentence of the day, a “here we go again” attitude could be felt near and far just as the day had begun. 

“Additionally, Kristaps [Porziņģis] is going to be out indefinitely with a health issue that I was informed about yesterday, so he’ll miss the start of camp here,” Dunleay announced. “Don’t have a timeline for him or anything further than that. So we’re a little banged up to start, but we’ve got plenty of depth. We’ll get through it.” 

Dunleavy couldn’t provide more information aside from Porziņģis now being sidelined for an unknown period because of a “health matter.” The Warriors found out about the problem Sunday and Porziņģis did not travel with the team to Hawaii. He, at the very least, will miss training camp and the first preseason game. 

Is this another tough turn of events or what we should expect for the entire season from a Warriors team being held together by Rick Celibrini’s first aid kit? Maybe somewhere in the middle? 

Acquiring Porziņģis at last season’s trade deadline for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield put a deflated balloon on the Warriors’ failed two-timelines plan. Porziņģis has the kind of tantalizing talent that made him the No. 4 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, that made him an All-Star in his third season and that has seen him average 20 points per game in six different seasons. He’s the NBA’s first unicorn, and equally as mystifying as his nickname that depicts a mythological character. 

How the Warriors viewed Porziņģis going into this season essentially was as an offseason acquisition they get to have a full go with. His talent is what earned him a two-year, $40 million contract extension from the Warriors with virtually no outside competition. But his long history of missing games from injury and an ongoing health matter is why his contract only has $3 million guaranteed next season. 

Porziņģis started the final 10 regular-season games he suited up for, as well as the Warriors’ two play-in games. The results weren’t perfect, but they provided a blueprint of how coach Steve Kerr wants to move forward with his offense. He wants Draymond Green to shoot more. He wants to have a five-out offense, and Porziņģis, as a 7-foot-2 marksman from long distance, is the ideal center to stretch the floor and accomplish Kerr’s goal. 

“KP and Al [Horford] have really provided us that spacing at that spot,” Kerr said Monday. “That’s important if you are playing the more modern style that we’re looking at. So we know we’re going to need Kristaps, and we feel very confident that we’ll have him at some point. Al, of course, he’s ready to go, and he’ll provide that as well.” 

Losing Porziņģis for an undisclosed time both changes the starting lineup, and turns up the pressure cooker on several players. Horford most likely will step into the starting center role, which he did 13 times last season. He and Green will have to be better together from the jump. The two played 266 minutes over 32 games last season and produced an ugly minus-13.8 net rating with a 99.3 offensive rating and a 113.1 defensive rating. 

Horford, 40, will need to be the player he was from Christmas on last season instead of the one who started off extremely slow, couldn’t find his shot and missed multiple weeks to sciatica. He won’t be the only one feeling the burden of Porziņģis’ absence. 

So will Yaxel Lendeborg. As will Brandin Podziemski. Third-string center Charles Bassey will have to step up, and even Graham Ike, who recently was signed to a two-way contract. 

And yes, losing Porziņģis for an extended period would put even more weight on the back of a hunched-over Steph Curry. 

The Warriors superstar doesn’t have his co-pilot to navigate the start of the season. Jimmy Butler was the Warriors’ other player who could drop 20 points on any given night. Porziņģis is the hypothetical second option who can be a mismatch out of the post and beyond the arc. The Warriors will keep their fingers crossed he can somehow be exactly that by the time the regular season rolls around in a few weeks. 

“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.” 

In the three seasons prior to trading for Porziņģis, the veteran big man averaged 21.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while shooting 38.9 percent from 3-point range and winning a championship ring with the Boston Celtics in that span. But his games played went from 65 to 57 to 42. This past season, he played 32 regular-season games and missed 50. 

Like Dunleavy said, Porziņģis could be back at the beginning of the season. Yet fans can’t expect that. The real expectations are this is how it’s going to be for however long Porziņģis wears a Warriors jersey. He will show flashes of a unicorn and then gallop off into the forest, unbeknownst to anybody. 

Palm trees, sand in their toes and the smell of the ocean will bring the vibes back to fun and positivity throughout Warriors training camp. The spotlight will continue to shine on Lendeborg and Curry can always make believers close their eyes to reality. 

It’s just too bad the same old story for the Warriors started in the opening statements of media day. Moving forward will be another challenge for a group that loves to be doubted. There’s also only so much wiggle room for a team already standing on the edge of a cliff.

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