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November 7, 2026

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Kristaps Porzingis with the Boston Celtics
Sports

Kristaps Porzingis Steps Away From Basketball to Focus on His Health

Faizan Altaf

Kristaps Porzingis has stepped away from basketball. The Golden State Warriors centre announced the decision on Friday, 6 November 2026, saying his body has not recovered enough for him to play at the level he demands of himself.

The 31-year-old Latvian, one of the most recognisable big men in the NBA, has not played a game this season. He missed training camp and the pre-season, and the Warriors had already ruled him out indefinitely before the season began.

“This season I was really looking forward to running it with this group,” Porzingis wrote in a statement posted on his X account, “but as I ramped up, my body didn’t respond the way I anticipated. I’m doing good, but I know what it takes, and I’m not where I want to be to perform at the level that I expect from myself. At this point, I’ve made the decision to prioritize my health and step away from the game I love.”

It is a sad moment for a player whose career has been defined as much by his talent as by his battles with his own body. Porzingis, nicknamed “the Unicorn” for a 7-foot-2 centre who can shoot three-pointers like a guard, helped the Boston Celtics win the NBA championship in 2024. Less than two years later, his career is on pause — and nobody, including Porzingis himself, knows when or if he will play again.

What Porzingis announced

Porzingis released a short statement on X on Friday, 6 November 2026. In it, he said his health is in a good place in general terms, but not good enough for professional basketball at the highest level.

He was careful about the words he chose. He did not say he is retiring. The word “retirement” did not appear anywhere in his statement. Instead, he said he is stepping away from the game, and he left the door open to a return one day.

“In this situation, I want to show the utmost respect for the Golden State Warriors and work with them to find a solution that makes sense,” he added.

That last line matters, because Porzingis remains under contract with Golden State. He signed a two-year, $40 million contract extension with the Warriors in the summer of 2026, worth $20 million a year. Stepping away does not cancel that deal. The player and the club now have to agree on what happens next, and that could mean a trade, a buyout, or simply waiting.

Porzingis has not played for the Warriors this season. He was away from the team for training camp and the start of the pre-season, and on 21 October the Warriors said he would not be with the team for “the immediate future”.

This is not a retirement — at least not yet

It is important to be clear about what “stepping away” means here. Porzingis has pressed pause on his NBA career. He has not ended it.

That distinction matters for two reasons. First, it leaves open the possibility of a comeback if his health improves. Porzingis is 31, which is not old for a modern NBA centre, and he has said nothing to suggest he has given up on playing again. Second, it keeps his contract alive, which means the Warriors can still trade him, and another team could still acquire his rights.

The health battle behind the decision

Porzingis did not say what his current health problem is. The Warriors have described it only as an undisclosed health issue. But we do know part of the story, because Porzingis has spoken about it before.

After helping Boston win the 2024 NBA Finals, Porzingis missed time the following season with what was then an unidentified illness. He later revealed that he had been diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, known as POTS, a condition that can sharply increase a patient’s heart rate when standing up, and it left him exhausted in a way he had never experienced before.

“It hit me, and it hit me like a truck,” Porzingis told The Athletic’s Fred Katz late last year. “The breathing wasn’t good. I did everything I could potentially to feel as good as I could, but my engine wasn’t running the way I wanted. At that time, I could lay on the couch and be a house cat.”

That was last year. This season, as he tried to build his fitness back up with the Warriors, his body did not respond the way he expected.

It is worth noting that Porzingis has not confirmed that his current problem is the same illness. What is clear is that he has not been at full health for the last two seasons, and that the problem has now cost him the start of a third. For a player who relies on movement, jumping and running the floor at 7 foot 2, that is a serious problem. Porzingis knows what the standard is, and he has decided he cannot meet it right now.

A career of highs and setbacks

Porzingis was born on 2 August 1995 in Liepaja, Latvia. He began his professional career with Sevilla in Spain in 2012, and by 2015 he was one of the most exciting young players in Europe, winning the EuroCup Rising Star award. The New York Knicks selected him with the fourth overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, and he became an All-Star in 2018, looking like the franchise player New York had been waiting for.

Then the injuries began. A serious knee injury in 2018 cost him more than a year, and disagreements with the Knicks’ front office led to a trade to the Dallas Mavericks in 2019. In Dallas, injuries and inconsistent form followed, and he was traded again, to the Washington Wizards, in 2022.

In Washington, Porzingis played some of the best basketball of his career. That earned him a move to the Boston Celtics in 2023, and in June 2024 he helped Boston win the NBA championship — the first title of his career, and the high point of his time in the league. But the illness that struck after that championship changed everything. He was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in the summer of 2025, and then, at the trade deadline in February 2026, the Hawks sent him to the Golden State Warriors in a deal that moved forward Jonathan Kuminga the other way. Porzingis played 15 games after arriving in Golden State, and the Warriors signed him to a new two-year, $40 million extension in the summer. Both sides clearly believed his health would allow him to play a full part in the 2026-27 season. That belief has now been proved wrong.

Across 11 years in the NBA, Porzingis has been an All-Star, an NBA champion, and one of the most skilled big men of his generation. He has also missed large parts of several seasons through injury and illness. Friday’s announcement is the latest chapter in that story — and the most uncertain one yet.

What happens to his contract now

Porzingis’s decision creates a complicated problem for the Warriors, because his contract is still running and it is worth a lot of money. The two-year, $40 million extension he signed in the summer pays him $20 million a year. Only $3 million of the second year is guaranteed, which makes his deal look very much like a $20 million expiring contract — the kind that can be useful in trades, even if the player never takes the court. Earlier in the week, ESPN reported that the Warriors were not paying Porzingis his salary, on the basis that he is not providing the services required by his contract.

The Warriors do, however, have options:

A trade. Golden State could trade Porzingis to another team, most likely in exchange for a usable player or salary cap relief. His contract is attractive to teams that want flexibility next summer, because so little of the second year is guaranteed. The trade market does not fully open until 15 December, when players who signed new contracts in the summer become eligible to be traded. Porzingis himself is not under any trade restriction. ESPN reported on Friday that the Warriors have no plans to void his contract while they weigh up the market.

A buyout. The two sides could agree to end the contract early, with Porzingis giving up some of his salary in exchange for his release. This usually happens when a player wants to join another team, which makes it a less likely path here. ESPN did report, however, that he would be open to a buyout after a trade, because that would let a team save on the $3 million guaranteed for next season.

Do nothing. The Warriors could simply leave his contract on the books this season and part ways with him before the second year becomes fully guaranteed. This looks like the least likely option, because Golden State is trying to win now while Stephen Curry is still playing at a high level, and $20 million of unused salary is a lot to leave sitting idle.

What it means for the Warriors

Golden State is not the only Bay Area basketball story this year. The Golden State Valkyries won the first WNBA title in franchise history, beating Atlanta Dream 68–63 in Game 7. On the court, the Warriors have started the season well without him, winning six of their first nine games. But Porzingis’s absence still hurts them.

Golden State signed him to be a weapon around Stephen Curry — a tall shooter and rim protector who could stretch defences and give the team a different look. Without him, the team is thinner in the front court, and it has less room to cope if another big player gets injured. The money matters too: about $20 million is tied to Porzingis and $56.8 million to Jimmy Butler, who is recovering from a torn ACL, while the Warriors sit only about $350,000 under the league’s second apron, a salary threshold that brings heavy penalties. Getting Porzingis’s money off the books would give them room to add a player who can help now.

Rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg has made an immediate impact, but to truly compete with the best teams in the Western Conference, Golden State still needs more help — and turning Porzingis’s contract into a useful player is the most obvious way to get it. For now, the Warriors will wait for the trade market to open in December. Expect Porzingis’s name to come up often in trade talk between now and the February deadline, even though he is not playing.

What happens next

The short answer is that nobody knows. Porzingis has given no date for a return, no details of any treatment, and no hint about whether he hopes to play again this season, next season, or at all. What we do know is the order of events to watch: 15 December, when the trade market properly opens; February 2027, the trade deadline and the last chance for Golden State to turn his contract into something useful this season; and next summer, when only $3 million of his second year is guaranteed and the Warriors must decide whether to keep him or move on.

For Porzingis himself, the priority is the one he named on Friday: his health. He is 31, he has already won an NBA title, and he has earned the right to decide his own future on his own terms. If his body recovers, a return is possible. If it does not, Friday’s statement may turn out to be the end of a career that promised so much and delivered plenty.

Why this story matters

Porzingis’s decision is a reminder that even the most talented athletes are not machines. The NBA season is still young, and the early weeks have already delivered big moments — LeBron James’s late heroics lifted the 76ers past the champion Knicks 98–93 in the NBA Cup opener. But few stories this season will be as human as this one: two years of illness have now taken him away from the game he loves, at an age when he should be in his prime.

It is also a story about how modern NBA teams manage risk. The Warriors bet $40 million that Porzingis’s health would hold up. That bet has failed within months, and now they must find a way to recover value from a contract that pays a player who cannot play. How they handle it — trade, buyout or patience — will shape their season. Above all, it is a human story. “I’m doing good,” Porzingis wrote on Friday. For a player who once said he felt like a house cat lying on a couch, unable to do the things he loves, that is something. Basketball can wait. His health cannot.

FAQ

Is Kristaps Porzingis retiring?

No. Porzingis said he is stepping away from basketball to focus on his health. He did not announce his retirement, leaving the door open to a return if his health improves.

What is wrong with Kristaps Porzingis?

Porzingis has not said what his current health problem is, and the Warriors have only described it as an undisclosed health issue. He previously revealed that he was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) in 2025, after an illness that followed the 2024 NBA Finals, but he has not confirmed that this is the same problem.

Which teams has Porzingis played for?

In the NBA he has played for the New York Knicks (2015-2019), Dallas Mavericks (2019-2022), Washington Wizards (2022-2023), Boston Celtics (2023-2025), Atlanta Hawks (2025-2026) and Golden State Warriors (2026-present). He won the NBA championship with Boston in 2024 and was an All-Star in 2018.

Conclusion

Kristaps Porzingis stepping away from basketball is one of the saddest stories of this NBA season. A player with rare talent, a championship ring and more than a decade at the top of the game has been stopped not by a rival or by age, but by his own body. His statement on Friday was honest, dignified and free of self-pity. He knows what it takes to play in the NBA, and he knows he is not there right now. That honesty deserves respect.

For the Warriors, the hard work starts now: turning a $20 million contract for a player who cannot play into something that helps the team. For Porzingis, the work is different and more personal — getting healthy, on his own timetable, with no promises about what comes next. If he returns, it will be one of the great comeback stories in basketball. If he does not, he will still be remembered as the Unicorn: a 7-foot-2 Latvian who changed what a big man could be, and who won a championship before his body said enough.

Sources

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

Faizan Altaf

Faizan Altaf is the founder and author of findivoza.com, a news blog covering world, Pakistan, business, technology, health and sport in plain English. He writes for general readers who want clear, trustworthy news without jargon. His work focuses on explaining what happened, why it matters, and what to watch next.

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