Kristaps Porzingis Stepped Away From Basketball at 31. The Warriors Had Already Stopped Paying Him.
Kristaps Porzingis posted a statement to X on Friday saying he is stepping away from the game. He is 31 years old, he has not played a minute this season, and the Golden State Warriors had already stopped sending him paychecks two days earlier.
“At this point, I’ve made the decision to prioritize my health and step away from the game I love,” Porzingis wrote in the statement, which he posted as an image with a single prayer-hands emoji. He added that his “body didn’t respond the way I anticipated,” and that he wanted “to show the utmost respect for the Golden State Warriors and work with them to find a solution that makes sense.”
Nobody has called it a retirement. The Associated Press noted that Porzingis did not reveal the nature of the health issue and that it is unclear whether he will play again. ESPN’s Anthony Slater and Shams Charania reported on Wednesday that he was leaning toward ending his career.
The Warriors Stopped Paying Him First
Slater and Charania reported Wednesday that Golden State had stopped making semimonthly payments on Porzingis’ $20 million salary, with the team ruling that he was not rendering his services. ESPN’s Bobby Marks put the withheld figure at roughly $218,341 per game missed.
Porzingis is not fighting it. ESPN reported that he is not disputing the missed payments and that the players association has no plans to either. That is the part worth sitting with. A player with $20 million on the books this season watched the money stop arriving and chose not to file a grievance.
He signed the deal in late June: two years and $40 million, with a $20 million player option for 2027-28 of which only $3 million is guaranteed. Because it was an extension rather than a free agent signing, he was tradable immediately.
What Golden State Does Now
The Warriors are about $20.4 million into the luxury tax, and Porzingis’ salary is almost exactly the number that would wipe it out. Slater laid out three options: trade him, void the contract, or negotiate a buyout. The team has shown no interest in voiding it, because the expiring salary is worth more as a trade chip.
Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported that Golden State wants a deal done by mid-December, the cutoff for acquiring a player whose salary can later be aggregated into a bigger trade. The Warriors did exactly that with Dennis Schroder in December 2024 before folding him into the Jimmy Butler deal.
Steve Kerr did not say much. “We texted the other day,” the coach told reporters. “Obviously, wish him well and hoping for the best for him. He’s made his decision, and there’s not a whole lot else to say.”
A Career That Deserved a Better Ending
Porzingis was the fourth pick in 2015, a 7-foot-2 Latvian who could shoot from the arc and protect the rim. He averaged 19.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks across 533 games for six franchises. He made an All-Star team in 2018. He won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2024.
Then came the illness. He told The Athletic in October 2025 that he had been diagnosed with POTS, a condition affecting heart rate and blood pressure, after an infection in March 2025. “It hit me, and it hit me like a truck,” he said. “At that time, I could just lay on the couch and be a house cat.”
The Warriors have never said what the current issue is. They traded Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to Atlanta for him in February, re-signed him in June, and have not had him on the floor once this season. There was no dispute and no grievance. A 31-year-old center with a championship ring walked away because his body stopped cooperating, and his team had already decided he was not working.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
