While his issues aren’t the Celtics’ problem anymore per se, it’s wild to see the mystery illness that rendered KP more or less unplayable in the playoffs last season is still lingering, and there are still a lot of missing answers.
It seemed like we finally had some closure on the situation when Porzingis, himself, announced that he was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, which causes rapid heart rate increase, dizziness, brain fog, and trouble breathing, among other things.
It was an unfortunate diagnosis, but it made perfect sense in describing why KP’s play seemed to fall off a cliff, and he didn’t look like himself at all out there. Knowing what it was, there was hope that the disease could be treated effectively and managed to a point where he could still play consistently at a high level.
But that hasn’t been the case at all this season, as KP was only able to play in 17 games before the trade deadline when the Hawks eventually dumped his salary to Golden State. He has played in one game for the Warriors, but then went back out with illness again. Only this time, there’s an even weirder twist.
Steve Kerr says KP’s disease is not POTS
On Friday afternoon, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr went on a local Bay Area sports radio station, and he was asked if Porzingis had been missing games because of POTS, to which he replied, “After the trade...I called Onsi Saleh, Atlanta's GM, and I asked, 'Is this POTS story real? He said, 'It's actually not POTS.' So that was some misinformation that was out there."
Well, that’s a pretty wild thing to say. Porzingis is the one who put the POTS diagnosis out there in the first place. Why hasn’t that story been updated? Why is the Hawks GM saying this, and Kerr agreeing? The radio hosts were understandably flabbergasted, realizing this was a bit of a bombshell, but Kerr didn’t seem to understand why.
He gave weird, vague comments about how he didn’t really know what information was out there, but that he talked to Kristaps and others and has confirmed that he wasn’t missing games in Atlanta because of POTS, just saying it was “Something else that was really difficult to figure out.”
This story just gets stranger and stranger. So, now, we are back to wondering what on earth is going on with KP. Kerr claimed that his missed games for the Warriors were just because of normal sickness and that stuff is going around this time of year.
If true, this is quite the revelation and could alter the trajectory of Porzingis’ career going forward. That would be huge for the Warriors, and whatever team (if any) employs him going forward, but somehow, I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this.