The Golden State Warriors are weighing their options with Kristaps Porzingis, the center who has been absent since the eve of training camp and whose $20 million salary for next season now looms over a 1-3 start. Team sources express deep pessimism that Porzingis will ever play for the Warriors again, but his contract could still prove valuable in a trade.
The Warriors opened their season with Draymond Green, listed at 6-foot-6, slotted as the starting center despite the accumulated toll on his 36-year-old body. Two nights later, against the Memphis Grizzlies’ jumbo front line, the staff gave Green a physical reprieve. Al Horford’s limited minutes in his 20th season forced Golden State to start Graham Ike, a two-way undrafted center from Gonzaga, in only his second career game.
Green still found himself on the floor in the late moments, trying to box out the 7-4 Zach Edey. After he failed to wall off Edey on a defensive rebound, Green committed a crucial frustration foul as the Warriors blew a 12-point lead and fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2020-21.
“We got what we got,” Green said when asked about the eroded state of the center position. “So we got to make it do what it do.”
The Warriors finished 37-45 a season ago. Team sources say the organization felt a woe-is-me attitude about the schedule and injuries contributed to that finish, so this season the team has taken a purposeful no-excuse approach.
That approach has meant an out-of-sight, out-of-mind strategy regarding Porzingis, who was re-signed this summer despite missing 90 games over the past two seasons with three different teams. Ever since he called out of work the day before training camp, the front office has instructed Steve Kerr to prepare the team as if Porzingis were a nonfactor. General manager Mike Dunleavy and lead medical decision maker Rick Celebrini are the only staff members who have communicated with Porzingis during his absence. Kerr has bristled at nearly every question about him in recent weeks.
“I don’t know,” Kerr said when asked for a recent update. “I don’t really have anything else to add on this.”
On opening night, the same day reports surfaced that the Warriors had begun exploring trade options, opposing center Walker Kessler dunked 10 times, the most in a game by a Los Angeles Lakers center since Shaquille O’Neal in 2003.
In the aftermath, Stephen Curry was asked about Porzingis’ indefinite absence and its impact on the team. He tapped the table as his frustration showed.
“Aggggh,” Curry said. “It’s a hard one for all reasons.”
Curry twice emphasized the human side of the situation and expressed sympathy for Porzingis, who has publicly discussed the lingering effects of an upper respiratory viral illness he contracted while with the Boston Celtics two seasons ago.
“We always said availability was a big factor for our team with all the guys we have out,” Curry said. “It’s no secret that the [center] spot is an important one for us, especially with his skill set. It’s hard to talk about without keeping the humanity of it in mind. But it is a tough one to figure out.”
How did Porzingis and the Warriors get here?
Porzingis’ current salary slot was created during the summer of 2025, amid one of the strangest restricted free agency standoffs in recent memory. Dunleavy and the Warriors were uneasy about committing long-term to Jonathan Kuminga, but they believed he still held more value and upside than the sign-and-trade offers on the table.
The Warriors stood firm and eventually compromised with Kuminga on a two-year, $46.8 million deal. It included a team option and a requirement that Kuminga waive his implicit no-trade clause. The team hoped he would contribute, but its intentions were clear enough during negotiations that Kuminga’s side felt he was being turned into a human trade exception.
In February, the Warriors sent Kuminga’s contract to Atlanta for Porzingis’ expiring $30.7 million deal. That move preserved salary flexibility, and the team believed it could manage Porzingis’ health well enough to get production from him.
It worked decently at first. Porzingis appeared in 15 of the team’s last 20 games and averaged 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks. That gave the front office and medical staff enough confidence to approve a two-year, $40 million extension in late June for a player who wanted to continue his NBA career.
The Warriors built in protections for a move they knew carried major risk. They guaranteed only $3 million of the $20 million due in the second season. They also structured the extension so Porzingis could be traded immediately rather than waiting until Dec. 15.
Dunleavy and the Warriors still believed Porzingis would be an available rotation piece for stretches of the schedule, not just a tradable contract. Before camp, the coaching staff spoke enthusiastically about a front line of Yaxel Lendeborg, Green and Porzingis.
Porzingis worked in the practice facility the week before training camp and attended Jimmy Butler’s player-led event in San Diego in late September. But optimism faded when team sources in attendance described him as indifferent and uninterested in participating in scrimmages and strenuous on-court work at the event, an early warning sign.
What are the Warriors’ options with Porzingis?
Porzingis called Dunleavy and stepped away from the team on the eve of training camp, citing what the team considered a private health matter. The Warriors initially gave him space but expected him to return to the facility and be around his teammates and the medical staff.
After a meeting with Celebrini and Dunleavy in early October, the team issued a statement saying he would be around. That did not last. Porzingis has not returned to the facility, and the organization changed his official status from out with “general illness,” as it had listed during his absences last season, to “not with team.” That change was deliberate, and the absence can no longer be described as excused.
Team sources say the organization has internally raised the possibility that Porzingis’ refusal to be present at the facility could be deemed a failure to render his services. That argument could be used in an attempt to void his entire contract. However, that route would bring its own complications unless Porzingis expressed an intention to retire and willingly returned all the money.
The Warriors are currently $20.4 million into the luxury tax. Removing Porzingis’ salary would erase nearly all of that tax bill and drop them under the first apron, giving them more trade flexibility. It would not, however, free up a major roster-building tool. They would only be able to add a player on a minimum contract through free agency.
The Warriors faced a similar situation two seasons ago. They signed De’Anthony Melton to a one-year, $12.8 million deal in July 2024, and he tore an ACL in early November and was ruled out for the season. Dunleavy responded by lining up a trade with the Brooklyn Nets for Dennis Schroder, executed on the first day Schroder was eligible to be traded (Dec. 15). The move cost the Warriors a net of two second-round picks. Schroder played 24 games for Golden State before he was traded as part of a deadline deal to acquire Butler.
That could be a preferred route again: using a minor asset to acquire a usable rotation player in the interim while keeping the expiring salary available for a bigger swing at the deadline.
Under the new anti-tanking rules, however, no obvious trade partners appear ready to part with a usable player for a minor asset, especially in late October. Dunleavy has already gauged the trade market, league sources said, but this is traditionally a quiet period. Front offices typically spend early months gathering information about their rosters before making bigger decisions closer to January and February.
For now, the Warriors are willing to be patient with the Porzingis contract and let the market develop, league sources said. If Porzingis agreed to give back a large portion of his money in a buyout, his expiring $20 million deal could become even more appealing to a trade partner looking for financial benefit.
What is the Warriors’ plan in the interim?
Lendeborg’s immediate success has brightened the mood around the team. The rookie wing scored 31 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out six assists in a surprising blowout win in Denver on Monday night.
At 6-foot-10 and 241 pounds, Lendeborg’s power and size have allowed the Warriors to play Green at center while still feeling bigger than their previous small-ball lineups. Lendeborg has 37 rebounds in four games.
The current starting lineup of Lendeborg, Green, Curry, Brandin Podziemski and Gui Santos has a plus-22 rating in a small early-season sample. Horford, limited to around 20 minutes per game and unable to play back-to-back games, has looked fresh in brief doses.
While working through a semi-rebuild, the Warriors have shown more willingness to give opportunities to their young players in an effort to find long-term contributors.
Ike has started two of the first four games, but he will be limited to 50 games total unless the Warriors convert his two-way contract to a full deal. Charles Bassey, a 25-year-old journeyman trying to catch on with the Warriors after five previous stops, provides another big body off the bench.
“I love the attitude of this team,” Kerr said. “I love the energy, the spirit. I like our talent. Then I think our two young big guys are good players.”