The bizarre and unfortunate fiasco involving the Golden State Warriors and Kristaps Porziņģis has taken another turn, and this one seems quite serious. On Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater reported that the Warriors have stopped paying Porziņģis his salary, due to the All-Star center not rendering services.
Golden State’s decision to withhold payments (which are sent out twice a month in the NBA), comes after news that Porziņģis is considering stepping away from basketball,
while the Dubs are exploring trade options. The 31-year old, who was acquired at February’s trade deadline in exchange for Jonathan Kuminga, has not been around the team since the start of training camp. Porziņģis reportedly attended Jimmy Butler III’s pre-camp team retreat, but did not seem fully engaged with his teammates. The day before the team was set to arrive in Hawaii to start training camp, Porziņģis informed them that he would not be joining.
Since then, things have only gotten worse. Porziņģis reportedly arrived at the facility to meet with head trainer Rick Celebrini and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., but has not partaken in any team activities, or been around the team. Listening to Steve Kerr and Steph Curry talk about the situation, it’s clear that the Warriors have grown deeply frustrated with Porziņģis.
The messaging has suggested that the Warriors don’t view Porziņģis’ absence as justified the way it would be for an injury, or the way they excused Andrew Wiggins when he left the team for an indefinite period to be with his ailing father. And now the withholding of payment only confirms that.
According to the ESPN report, the Warriors are not currently considering voiding Porziņģis’ contract, because they want to keep his $20 million salary on the books for trade purposes. Even though the Dubs aren’t paying Porziņģis, they can still trade him as though they were. We’ll see if Porziņģis and the Players Association appeal Golden State’s decision. To my knowledge, the last time a team withheld payments from a player was when the Miami Heat did so last season with Terry Rozier, after Rozier was caught up in a gambling scandal.
