The Warriors traded someone who didn’t work for someone who can’t work.
They wouldn’t play Jonathan Kuminga. They aren’t able to play Kristaps Porzingis.
If the Kuminga experiment was a blight, the Porzingis tenure has been a black hole, punctuated by him missing his fourth straight game Saturday because of an illness as the Warriors fell to the Lakers,129-101.
They sure could’ve used the 7-foot-2 big man, who draws fouls and is a silky 3-point shooter on a night when they had only nine free-throw attempts (less than half as many as the Lakers) and were outshot from beyond the arc, 46.3 percent to 27.3 percent.
Porzingis’ current illness is apparently contagious and has caused him to lose fluids. It supposedly has nothing to do with the extended illness he battled during his final season in Boston and limited him to just 17 games with Atlanta this season.
That longterm illness was postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) — or so we thought.
That’s where things get even more murky.
Kerr went on local Bay Area radio Friday and revealed that Porzingis doesn’t have POTS.
“I read about the POTS diagnosis and called the Hawks [general manager] Onsi Saleh,” Kerr said. “He’s a good friend of mine and I said, ‘Is this POTS story real?’ He said it’s actually not POTS. That was some misinformation out there.”
When asked for clarification Saturday, Kerr essentially issued a retraction.
“It was a stupid mistake by me to talk about something that I’m not qualified to talk about,” he said. “I regretted even trying to discuss the diagnosis. That was my mistake and I need to leave that to the professionals.”
It’s hard to makes heads and tails of what’s going on,
But it has been that kind of a season for the Warriors, who lost Jimmy Butler to a torn ACL last month and have been without Steph Curry (runner’s knee) for 10 straight games. Now, the Warriors are just trying to keep their heads above water long enough to make the play-in tournament.
For that to happen, they need Porzingis.
When the Warriors pulled the trigger on Porzingis, it was a smart move. Things had become untenable with Kuminga, who viewed himself as a star while the team just wanted him to star in his role.
Kuminga’s relationship with Kerr degenerated. His play was inconsistent. Eventually, things became so unworkable that he played in only three games from Dec. 6 until he was traded just under two months later.
The Warriors tried to take a big swing at the trade deadline for Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the Milwaukee Bucks decided to hold onto their superstar. So, the Warriors pivoted to Porzingis.
Porzingis seemed like a great get.
He fills a lot of the Warriors’ holes. He mixes things up down low and has a shot that needs to be respected, which opens up the court for everyone around him. If Butler weren’t injured and Porzingis wasn’t a giant question mark, the Warriors could be really good.
But the problem is that’s a lot of hypotheticals.
Porzingis has only played in one game for the Warriors so far against Boston on Feb. 19. He finished with 12 points in 17 minutes, including making two 3-pointers.
There’s a lot of upside there. But if he can’t stay on the court, it’s all for naught.
So far, the Warriors have traded a guy who was ill-fitted for a guy who can’t stay in uniform.
What’s going on? Is Porzingis actually really going to be able to play? What even is his illness?
When the Warriors acquired Porzingis, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said he believed he’d be able to make an impact. “We feel good about it,” he said. Porzingis added that he was “confident” he’d be on the court.
But so far, there are more questions than answers around Porzingis.
So, without Butler, Curry and Porzingis, the Warriors allowed a Lakers team that had lost three games in a row to stop the bleeding with a blowout win.
The Warriors still believe anything could happen if they make the play-in tournament. And they’re not wrong. With Curry, anything is possible.
But without Porzingis, nothing is possible. Not without Butler, too. Curry and Draymond Green just wouldn’t have enough help.
So, while the Kuminga experiment was a failure, the Porzingis experiment so far is an enigma.
All we really know is he has missed seven of the team’s eight games since becoming a Warrior, leaving Green to try and lead a developing team as Curry rehabs his knee.
Looking forward, Kerr is unsure whether Porzingis will play against the Clippers on Monday.
There’s so much uncertainty around the big man.
For the Warriors, it means they went from having a Kuminga issue to a Porzingis disappearing act.
Or, in other words, they traded a headache for knots in their stomach.
