Warriors’ Kristaps Porzingis explains back spasms, ‘probably’ out vs Hawks

It seems like Kristaps Porzingis escaped any major injuries after leaving with “lower back soreness” in the second quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ 115-101 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

In the locker room after the game, Porzingis explained how the spasms in his lower back progressed as the game went along in the first half.

“I kind of started feeling it from the first quarter,” Porzingis said. “Started spasming out a bit, [so] I tried to move. While I was warm, I was okay, but on that one play, I kind of felt a little spasm there.”

The play Porzingis was referring to when the spasm happened in transition, when he jumped and reached his arm up to deflect a pass from getting to Pistons center Paul Reed. Porzingis noted that he could feel his back tightening in the plays leading up to that moment, but that specific action was the main trigger. Porzingis would leave the game immediately after and not return.

Back injuries are somewhat familiar territory for Porzingis, but something he hasn’t encountered in a while. Porzingis told reporters it was something he experienced earlier in his career, but hasn’t been much of an issue since learning how to manage them.

“Honestly, I’m pretty good at managing and keeping my back strong so I’m sure it will go away quickly,” Porzingis told reporters. “It’s a little tight right now. Once I cooled down, it tightened up even more. But I’m sure I’ll get it going soon.”

What does that mean for Kristaps Porzingis moving forward?

Based on Porzingis’s explanation of his back spasms, it doesn’t look to be anything majorly concerning. But given how much time Porzingis has missed due to a variety of health issues, it’s a bad stroke of luck for him and the Warriors. Just as he was starting to string things together.

Earlier this week, Porzingis tied his season high of 30 points against the Washington Wizards, helping Golden State to a much-needed win. And before the Pistons game, he had been able to play four of the Warriors’ last five games, logging 20, 22, 26, and 23 minutes in each of those games. The plan had actually been to begin ramping up Porzingis’s minutes as his stamina and wind had been progressing nicely.

Porzingis noted that it’s “probably” unlikely he’ll play on the back-end of the Warriors’ back-to-back against the Atlanta Hawks, which was already up in the air given how the team’s erred on the side of caution in those schedule situations.

As such, the Warriors will have to do without their notable big man in their reunion with Jonathan Kuminga, who they dealt to the Hawks at the trade deadline. And they’ll be looking to salvage a road trip in which they’ve gone 1-3 and fallen to 33-37 on the season.

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