Golden State Warriors center Kristaps Porzingis has announced that he is stepping away from basketball due to his physical inability to play at the level to which he is accustomed.
Despite the announcement, which is not an official retirement, the Warriors will still be able to use Porzingis' $20 million salary in a trade leading up to February's deadline, per team and league sources.
"I want to show the utmost respect for the Golden State Warriors and work with them to find a solution that makes sense," Porzingis wrote in a social media post Friday.
Porzingis signed a two-year, $40 million contract extension with the Warriors in late June and said in the statement that he intended to play this season but that his body didn't respond as he tried to ramp it up for training camp.
Two days before the team's first practice, Porzingis called general manager Mike Dunleavy and told him he wouldn't be reporting. The Warriors let Porzingis remain away from the facility for two weeks, but brought him in for a meeting in early October and anticipated that he'd be around the team.
Porzingis opted to leave the team again after the meeting and has since decided he is stepping away from the NBA entirely. The Warriors have not been delivering him payments on his $20 million salary, and neither Porzingis nor the players' association is contesting that decision.
But the Warriors have no plan to void Porzingis' contract, per team sources, as they continue to survey the league's yet-to-materialize trade market in an effort to eventually improve a team that has jumped out to a 6-3 start with an ongoing six-game win streak.
Porzingis is amenable to a trade and could actually become a relatively appealing contract for a rival team intent on shedding a longer-term salary or saving immediate money. Porzingis has only $3 million guaranteed on his deal next season, and the expectation is that he'd be open to a post-trade buyout that would save a team more than that.
Porzingis has been dealing with persistent health issues after contracting a viral illness while in Boston two seasons ago and has suffered several leg injuries during an otherwise productive 11-year career.
"I'm doing good, but I know what it takes, and I'm not where I want to be to perform at the level I expect of myself," Porzingis wrote.