OKLAHOMA CITY — After a six-game absence due to 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 (prior to the game) and felt pretty decent.”
Porzingis warmed up prior to the team’s road game in Houston on Thursday night. He got a practice in on Friday. He played 23 minutes against the Thunder on Saturday night and had nine points, 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 trade from the Atlanta Hawks on Feb. 4. He stayed in San Francisco during the All-Star break readying for a debut on Feb. 19. He played 17 minutes that night against the Boston Celtics and declared himself ready for a heavier workload.
But Porzingis woke up sick two mornings later and sunk into another extended bout of illness, missing six straight games as the Warriors’ training staff tried to get a better grip on the health trouble he has been dealing with dating back 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, even declining to get into much detail again on Saturday night, but it continues to disrupt his career. He was limited to 17 games for the Hawks prior to 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 actually 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 the Kerr 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 on Monday night in Utah on the front end of a back-to-back. The Warriors plan to play him on 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.
