The 2026-27 regular season hasn't even started, and it is already looking like a lost cause campaign for the Golden State Warriors.
With Jimmy Butler III and Moses Moody already expected to miss the first few months of the season, and Stephen Curry and Draymond Green over 36 years old, the Warriors need all their other key players to be healthy this season.
Yaxel Lendeborg, Brandin Podziesmki, Gui Santos, and Will Richard have no serious underlying injury issues (*knocks wood excessively*). However, the one guy who could really help unlock this team is as unreliable as they come.
Signing Kristaps Porziņģis is going to tank the Warriors
This offseason, the Warriors and Porziņģis (who the team got from the Atlanta Hawks in return for Jonathan Kuminga) agreed to a two-year, $40 million extension that made the Latvian big man the highest-paid player on the team not named Curry, Green, or Butler.
Given Porziņģis' long injury history (he's played over 60 games once since 2018), this was always going to be a risky proposition, but it was a necessary one, since his rare blend of size and shooting made for a perfect fit next to Green. If everything worked out, Porziņģis, Green, Lendeborg, and Butler would have combined to form a suffocating defensive frontcourt quartet.
However, this gamble is already looking like a train wreck. Before the start of the preseason, it was reported that Porziņģis was dealing with an undisclosed injury and would be out for an indefinite amount of time.
Then, a couple of days ago, it was going around social media that the Warriors didn't even know where Porziņģis was, which is the last thing you want to hear about a player who was supposed to help the team unlock a new level.
Fortunately, Porziņģis finally returned to the team's facility on Wednesday, and the team issued a statement that he would now be back with the team. Porziņģis also took to X (formerly "Twitter") to address the situation:
“Hello people, I’m working with doctors and experts to figure out how to be fully back to good health asap. Honestly, I’m getting better and better. I just have to stay patient, and I believe I’ll be feeling great again soon,” Porziņģis wrote. “It has definitely been frustrating dealing with some health stuff that you can’t exactly pinpoint, on top of injuries throughout my career, so it has added up for sure, but we will get through it. Health is wealth. Thank you for all the support.”
I'm glad that Porziņģis is prioritizing his well-being, and it is good that he is now back with the team. However, none of this sounds very promising as it pertains to his ability to consistently be on the floor in 2026-27. There is nothing here that says that the doctors have figured out what is going on with him, and no timetable of when Porziņģis will even resume on-court activities.
I get why the Warriors took on a chance on Porziņģis' immense talent and unique fit with their current personnel, especially with how few options they had to strengthen their current team. If I was in there shoes, I would have done it too. But it is hard to see a world where this marriage has a happy ending, and given all the factors that are already working against them, the Warriors season may be dead before it even began.
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