The Warriors acquired center Kristaps Porzingis from the Atlanta Hawks at the NBA trade deadline, just a few months after the 7-footer revealed he was dealing with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) while playing for the Boston Celtics in last year’s playoffs. POTS is a non-life-threatening blood circulation disorder in which a number of symptoms may arise when the subject stands up.
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Porzingis has missed three straight games due to an “illness,” which led to Kerr being asked about the POTS issue during an appearance on 95.7 The Game on Friday. His response, via the San Francisco Chronicle:
“When I heard about the trade, I read about the POTS diagnosis and I called Onsi… and said, ‘Is this POTS story real?’ And he said, ‘It’s not really POTS.’ There was some misinformation out there. I don’t know if anyone has asked him about it. The bottom line is that whatever was bothering him in Atlanta and keeping him out had nothing to do with the illness (this) week. I was just sick. … He was sick enough to lose a lot of fluid and it was contagious, so we kept him home and he is much better now.”
A day later, Kerr acknowledged that he made a mistake while speaking to reporters before Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers:
“It was a stupid mistake on my part to talk about something I’m not qualified to do. I regret even trying to discuss the diagnosis. That was my mistake. I need to leave that to the professionals.”
When asked about the specifics Porzingis is facing, Kerr said, “It’s a medical issue that’s way beyond my ability to explain anything. He’s sick, he’s not playing, we’ll continue to monitor him.”
Porzingis has been a member of the Warriors for more than three weeks, but has only played one game for them. He was dealing with an Achilles injury at the time of his trade, which delayed his Golden State debut until February 19 and he missed the three subsequent games due to the illness.
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He was out again on Saturday, although he practiced on Friday. Kerr indicated that an appearance in Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers is a possibility.