Warriors news: Steve Kerr’s shocking revelation about Kristaps Porzingis’ POTS diagnosis

When the Golden State Warriors traded for center Kristaps Porzingis from the Atlanta Hawks, they were getting a versatile big man with the ability to score inside and out. The questions with the acquisition of Porzingis weren’t about him on the court, but rather off.

Kristaps Porzingis had reportedly been dealing with postural tachycardia syndrome, a condition that causes an increased heart rate, dizziness, and even fatigue when transitioning from lying down or sitting to standing up, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The symptoms of POTS, which are caused by a lack of blood flow back to the hear when a person stands up, can also be relieved by sitting or laying down.

Porzingis had missed 14 straight games for the Atlanta Hawks before being traded at the NBA trade deadline to the Atlanta Hawks for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield.

Since the trade, Porzingis has played just one of a possible eight games for the Warriors. He was able to make his Dubs debut on February 19th against the Boston Celtics, where he scored 12 points in 17 minutes of play, but has subsequently missed three straight games with an illness.

According to head coach Steve Kerr, however, Kristaps Porzingis is not dealing with POTS. Kerr recently spoke with Willard and Dibs, a Bay Area radio show that airs weekday afternoons, and it was there that he revealed Porzingis not dealing with POTS at all.

“When I heard about the trade, I read about his POTS diagnosis and then called Onsi Saleh, who was with us, he’s now Atlanta’s GM and he’s a good friend of mine,” Kerr explained. “I called him and I said, ‘is this POTS story real?’ And he said it’s actually not POTS. It was not POTS.’ So that was some misinformation that was out there.

“I don’t know if anybody’s asked him about it, but bottom line is whatever was bothering him in Atlanta that was keeping him out had nothing to do with the illness last week. He was just sick. There’s a lot going around as you guys know and he was sick enough where he was losing a lot of fluid and contagious so we just kept him home, but he’s doing a lot better now.”

For months, Kristaps Porzingis is thought to have been dealing with POTS and had led many to question what is actually left of his NBA career. But Steve Kerr says the Warriors received confirmation that Porzingis is not dealing with POTS ahead of the trade that sent Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Hawks.

“I don’t really know what’s out there,” Kerr added. “I just know that we had internal discussions and I’ve talked to Kristaps and he told me he’s feeling good and we haven’t gone into depth with his illness stuff in Atlanta, but I got confirmation that it was not POTS, but it was something else that was really difficult to figure out and that’s sometimes the case, even in this modern age where we have a lot of answers, we never have all o them. Sometimes there’s just mysterious stuff.”

As of Friday night, Porzingis is listed as “Questionable” to play in Saturday night’s game agaimnst LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers due to an illness. While Stephen Curry continues to be listed as out wit,h “runner’s knee,” Draymond Green is listed as “probable” after missing the Warrior last game.

Porzingis has played in just 18 games so far this season between the Hawks and Warriors, averaging 16.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 36.3 percent from three.

The post Warriors news: Steve Kerr’s shocking revelation about Kristaps Porzingis’ POTS diagnosis appeared first on ClutchPoints.