The Kristaps Porzingis/Golden State Situation Has Reached A New Level After The Warriors Decide They Will Not Pay A Penny Of His Fully Guaranteed $20 Million Dollar Salary
Ryan Sun. Getty Images.Of all the crazy storylines that currently exist in the early stages of the NBA season, I'm not sure it gets weirder than what is going on with Kristaps Porzingis and the Warriors. It started with GS offering KP a 2/$40M extension this summer, which at the time seemed questionable, but they didn't have many avenues to add talent around Steph so I get it. At that price should KP finally be healthy, that's good value. Healthy Porzingis has a market price higher than $20M per.
But that's the thing. It requires Porzingis to be healthy.
Immediately following that extension, reports started to come out that the Warriors had no idea where KP was, or when he'd be ready to play given his recurring health issues. Very bizarre to just not have any idea where one of your main players is, but that's where we were. Then more reports came out that he was going to be out for an undetermined amount of time, and things got so bad that KP himself had to tweet out that he didn't have AIDS or HIV. Easily one of the more insane things we've ever seen from an NBA player.
Following that announcement, Shams came out and reported that the Warriors were officially entertaining trades for KP, but also that it was a very real possibility that he straight up retires from the NBA. That was also weird. Is he retiring or not? Who is giving up anything of substance just for an expiring contract and a player who would be walking away from the sport?
At this point, our pets heads had fallen off. Every step of the way this situation has been weirder and weirder. Our latest update? Now GS is trying to flat out not pay Porzingis the money he signed for
The Warriors are not delivering payments to Kristaps Porzingis on his $20 million salary, ruling that he is not rendering services, sources tell me and @anthonyVslater. Golden State is permitted to move his contract at any point before the Feb. 11 deadline even without paying him currently, and will continue exhausting trade avenues as the 31-year-old leans toward ending his NBA career. Absorbing Porzingis' near-expiring deal would allow a rival team to move a salary out and save money and clear a roster spot via a buyout.
Look, I'm not a lawyer. I haven't read every page of the CBA. I'm sure this is well within the Warriors' right by the letter of the law. It's pretty hard to deny that KP is not rendering his basketball services at the moment.
But also, he's out due to his health issue? What services should he be rendering right now? Maybe being at the facility and rehabbing (?) of some kind or something? I feel like this isn't the first time he's had to step away due to his health, so honestly that feels like of scummy by the Warriors.
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Nobody forced them to offer him that extension. Did they do a physical? Did they do any sort of due diligence on his health, something that was still an issue last season before putting that contract on the table? Not only that, it was not only their choice to offer the extension, it was also their choice to keep him on the roster past his fully guaranteed date of 7/7. Once that happened, his $20M for 2026-27 is fully guaranteed.
I can understand being annoyed that you now have to pay that kind of money to a player who isn't playing….but I cannot imagine they were not aware of this possibility when that extension happened. The petty part is his salary still counts against their cap! It's not as if them not paying KP means the contract is suddenly off their books. Sometimes in the NBA you end up signing a lemon, where things don't work out. Tough luck. Unless there's some sort of action by KP that would void his contract, this feels a little fucked up to me.
Then again, it doesn't seem like KP is fighting this decision
so maybe he really is about to walk away and figures since he's played 0 seconds this year that it's OK for the Warriors to fully get out of his deal without paying him a dime. Pretty nice gesture by him if that's the case, because guaranteed money is guaranteed money and it's not like we're talking about the vet minimum. $20M is a pretty nice chunk of change no matter how much you've already made in your career.
I'm just not sure I love the precedent this may set. Who is to say whether services are being rendered or not? For example, Mitchell Robinson has been a complete disaster so far for the Celtics. He's not rebounding, he's not defending, he's not doing any of the services that Brad Stevens paid for. Does that mean he should get his fully guaranteed salary? What if a player suffers an injury and is out for months. Then what? Are they rendering their basketball services? Should those owners then be allowed to not pay them their checks? It just feels like this could be a slippery slope where you know some cheap ass owners will be looking to exploit.
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It's just so crazy to see everything that has happened with KP since April 2025. He went from being fully healthy and as good as ever right before the playoffs to now his new team is refusing to pay his salary and he's seriously considering retirement. Life sure does come at you fast in the NBA. That shit wasn't even 2 years ago! Brutal.