Warriors center Kristaps Porziņģis announced Friday that he’s stepping away from basketball to address ongoing health issues, a move that comes as Golden State has stopped paying out his $20 million salary for next season. The 7-foot-2 big man, who has dealt with an autoimmune disorder known as POTS, said he plans to work with the team to sort out what comes next.
Porziņģis said he has “decided to step away from basketball” as he deals with the condition, according to NBC Sports. The outlet reported that his POTS issue “initially became an issue late in the 2024-25 season with the Celtics” and has kept him sidelined for the entirety of this season with Golden State. Porziņģis added that he intends to “work with (the Warriors) to find a solution that makes sense,” signaling he hopes to resolve the situation with the team rather than against it.
The announcement follows weeks of uncertainty surrounding Porziņģis’s status. Per the San Francisco Standard, Porziņģis hadn’t been with the team since informing the front office of a health issue the day before training camp began. That absence set off a standoff over his pay that has only intensified since.
Warriors Stop Paying Out $20 Million Salary
According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, the Warriors have stopped payments on Porziņģis’s $20 million salary for next season. NBC Sports reported that the team was withholding payment and considered his absence unexcused, a characterization that underscores just how far apart the two sides appear to be on the situation. The dispute traces back to the two-year, $40 million deal the two sides struck over the summer — Yahoo Sports reported that his $20 million salary for next season includes just $3 million in guaranteed money.
The financial stakes of the standoff are significant for Porziņģis. The Athletic reported that he was losing approximately $218,000 per game under the current arrangement, as cited by Yahoo Sports. Rather than move to terminate his contract outright, the same account indicates Golden State has instead been exploring ways to trade him.
A Productive, If Brief, Run in Golden State
When healthy last season, Porziņģis showed flashes of the two-way impact that made him a sought-after piece for the Warriors. He appeared in 15 games for Golden State, averaging 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 blocks in 23.7 minutes per appearance, per the earlier NBC Sports report. Those numbers made his extended absence this season all the more notable for a Warriors team banking on his size and shooting up front.
Echoes of a Past NBA Standoff
The situation has drawn comparisons to another high-profile standoff between a star player and his team over withheld pay. The San Francisco Standard noted that Philadelphia withheld nearly $20 million of game checks from Ben Simmons during the 2021-22 season, after he stepped away amid a trade demand and off-court mental health issues. The comparison highlights how rare — and contentious — these kinds of disputes can become when a team and a player disagree over whether an absence is medically justified.
For now, the path forward for Porziņģis and the Warriors remains unresolved. He has said he wants to work with the organization toward a solution, but neither side has indicated when, or how, that might happen.
