OKLAHOMA CITY — After a six-game absence because of health issues, Kristaps Porzingis appeared in his second game with the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, contributing nine points in a 104-97 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I felt like my body is coming back to what it needs to be,” Porzingis said. “One workout [before the game] and felt pretty decent.”
Porzingis warmed up before the team’s road game in Houston on Thursday night and practiced Friday. He played 23 minutes against the Thunder on Saturday night and added five rebounds, five assists and one block.
“I believe I will be healthy now,” Porzingis said. “This is what I really feel. Not to sell anything because I’ve been in and out, out again. But this time, I really feel this is it.”
The Warriors acquired Porzingis via a trade from the Atlanta Hawks on Feb. 4. He stayed in San Francisco during the All-Star break to prepare for his debut Feb. 19. He played 17 minutes that night against the Boston Celtics and said he was ready for a heavier workload.
But Porzingis woke up sick two days later and dealt with another extended bout of illness, missing six straight games as the Warriors’ training staff tried to better understand the health trouble that has affected him for more than a year.
After contracting a virus late last February, Celtics doctors diagnosed Porzingis with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), an autonomic condition that can dramatically increase heart rate and cause dizziness and fatigue.
Porzingis has been pretty private about his struggle and declined to go into much detail Saturday night, but it continues to disrupt his career. He was limited to 17 games for the Hawks before the trade.
“Especially getting traded somewhere else, I wanted to get out there as soon as possible,” Porzingis said. “Sitting out a couple games was stinging me a little bit. Today was OK. Feeling a little heavy, shot not in a good rhythm yet.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr caused an internal stir last week when he said on local Bay Area radio that Porzingis didn’t have POTS, calling it “misinformation.” Kerr later retracted that statement, calling it a “stupid mistake” to discuss something he didn’t know much about.
“It wasn’t ideal,” Porzingis said of Kerr’s mix-up. “Because it put something out again. So, people start talking again. I told Steve it was OK. I know he didn’t mean anything, didn’t want to create hype around my health. He just said what he knew at the moment.”
Porzingis will rest Monday night in Utah on the front end of a back-to-back set. The Warriors plan to play him Tuesday night, when they return home against the Chicago Bulls. Porzingis said he’d like an uptick in minutes as the playoffs near.
“Only 20 games left or so. I want to catch a really good rhythm and see if we can do anything in the postseason,” Porzingis said.
