Warriors Stop Paying Kristaps Porzingis

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2026

The Golden State Warriors have stopped paying Kristaps Porzingis. ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater reported Wednesday that the team is not delivering the semimonthly payments on his $20 million salary, ruling that the absent center is not rendering services. Golden State will keep shopping his contract ahead of the Feb. 11 trade deadline — and Porzingis, 31, is leaning toward ending his NBA career.

The ruling carries a price per night. Under the league’s failure-to-render-services provision, ESPN’s Bobby Marks calculated that Porzingis is docked $218,341 for every game that passes — 1/91.6th of his salary, per game. The checks stop; the bookkeeping does not. Marks noted the $20 million still counts in full against Golden State’s salary cap and luxury-tax apron.

For now, nobody is fighting it. League sources told ESPN that Porzingis is not actively disputing the missed payments, and The Athletic reported that neither he nor the players’ association plans to dispute the ruling. Team sources told ESPN the Warriors have no current plans to void the contract — voiding it would surrender the trade flexibility the front office is determined to keep.

NBA · The AbsenceAn absence that stopped being excused

Porzingis has not played a minute this season. He stepped away shortly before training camp, telling general manager Mike Dunleavy he was still struggling with the recurring symptoms of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome — POTS, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system whose symptoms can include dizziness and severe fatigue — a condition he publicly disclosed last fall.

The Warriors knew the risk when they took it, twice. They acquired him from Atlanta in February, absorbing his expiring $30.7 million contract, and he rewarded them with 15 appearances in the final 20 games, averaging 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks. In June, Golden State signed him to a two-year, $40 million extension anyway, betting its medical staff could manage what other stops could not.

Since camp opened, the relationship has narrowed to a phone line. ESPN reported that Dunleavy and lead medical executive Rick Celebrini are the only staff members in communication with Porzingis, and that coach Steve Kerr prepared the team as if he were a nonfactor. Slater reported the organization has grown frustrated with how little he has been around the facility and the team’s doctors; his designation on the injury report has been changed to “not with team,” and the absence, Slater wrote, could no longer be described as excused. The team said it would not comment on trade speculation or reports about his health, adding that it is “not anticipating Kristaps being around the team in the immediate future.” Previously reported in October that his timetable was already indefinite before opening night.

NBA · The Human SideCurry keeps coming back to the humanity of it

Stephen Curry has been asked about the empty spot in the middle all season, and his answer has never really been about basketball. “It’s a hard one, for all reasons,” Curry said after the opener. “For him personally, first and foremost… We always say availability is a big factor for our team with the guys we already have out. It’s no secret that spot was an important one for us, especially with his skill set. It’s hard to talk about it without even the humanity of it in mind.” It is the same order of priorities he has kept every time the subject comes up — the person before the rotation.

NBA · The DeadlineA $20 million chip, live until Feb. 11

What the Warriors are protecting is an asset, and the rest of the league understands its shape. Charania reported the team will continue exhausting trade avenues, and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported Golden State is prepared to move Porzingis immediately if the right deal presents itself. ESPN noted why rivals take the call: absorbing his near-expiring salary lets a team move a longer-term contract off its own books, save money and clear a roster spot through a buyout — or extract a draft asset, depending on what the Warriors are willing to attach.

None of that answers the only question that was ever really on the table. A 7-foot-3 former All-Star and NBA champion is deciding whether his body will let him keep playing, and the team that bet $40 million on the answer has stopped paying him while he decides. The contract has a deadline — Feb. 11. The rest of it does not.