According to The Athletic, former Boston Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis was dealing with POTS during the playoffs last year. At the time, Porzingis’ ailment could not be diagnosed. But now, months later, there is finally some clarity regarding what Porzingis was suffering through during the postseason.
“Porziņģis was eventually diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, commonly referred to as POTS, an autonomic condition that can dramatically increase a patient’s heart rate when standing up. ‘It hit me and it hit me like a truck,” Porzingis told Fred Katz of The Athletic in a story published Wednesday. “The breathing wasn’t good. I did everything I could potentially to feel as good as I could, but my engine wasn’t running the way I wanted.’”
It was a brutal few months for Porzingis.
What was wrong with Kristaps Porzingis?
In the article written by The Athletic, a description of POTS was included to clarify exactly what Porzingis was dealing with during the Celtics’ playoff run last year:
“POTS is a condition that causes certain symptoms to surface when a person transitions from lying down to standing up, including increased heart rate, dizziness and fatigue,” the article wrote. “Typically, the body’s autonomic nervous system regulates heart rate and blood pressure to keep blood flowing at a healthy pace no matter what position you’re in. According to the Cleveland Clinic, gravity causes “10 percent to 15 percent of your blood to settle in your abdomen, legs and arms. This means that less blood reaches your brain, which can cause brief lightheadedness.” Without POTS, the body compensates, with the leg muscles helping pump blood to the heart, so the symptoms do not occur.”
That diagnosis explains a lot. At the time, all Porzingis could explain was that he was feeling exhausted. He was unable to catch his breath, and staying on the court was a struggle.
When the illness he was dealing with was unknown, this was inexplicable. Nobody could identify the ailment, so it was a giant mystery. But POTS makes perfect sense.
And now that Porzingis and his team have figured out what he’s dealing with, they can address the issue. Unfortunately for the Celtics, he’ll be doing that with the Atlanta Hawks now.
However, while there are some calls for the Celtics to be ridiculed for trading Porzingis while his value was low, they were always going to trade him this summer. They were hard-pressed by the second apron, and shedding salary, regardless of Porzingis’ illness, was always going to be a priority over the offseason.