Why isn’t Kristaps Porzingis getting heat?

[Marvel]

Okay, i get he's sick or he has a fever or whatever it is but we're trying to win a championship here. Bro is always injured and unavailable when we really need him and to make the situation worse he's playinig like ass. Trade him in the off season as an expiring. There's got to be some team with interest in a expiring contract.

[31to6]

Wild and unsourced brainstorming about what KP could be dealing with:

Long COVID
Lyme disease
HIV
Type 1 diabetes
Mononucleosis
Uhm.. what is Hanta Virus? I don’t watch enough Grays Anatomy to know more
Oh: some form of cancer

Again, TOTALLY GUESSING and let’s hope it’s nothing that lasts or impacts his long term quality of life

[Setshot33]

Who is softer?

Porzingus or Brad Lohaus?

[Lee Van Cleef]

He's always injured, sick, banged up, bleeding etc. I'm tired of KP's health issues. If we fall to the Knicks, Joe is not the only one we need to let go.

[Fencer reregistered]

Immune boosters? So something related to his white blood cells?

https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/05/10/kristaps-porzingis-comes-off-bench-in-game-3-after-ominous-health-report/

The good news is that people can live full lives with scary blood diseases. Even a "blood cancer" may not lower your life expectancy.

[Lee Van Cleef]

Some viral infections can cause heart damage, which results in heart failure and is irreversible. Let’s hope that this is not the case.

[Fierce1]

Some viral infections can cause heart damage, which results in heart failure and is irreversible. Let’s hope that this is not the case.

We don't want another Reggie Lewis tragedy.

[Shamrock23]

Who is softer?

Porzingus or Brad Lohaus?

Tatum, lol

[OldCeltics]

Heat have already left the playoffs.

[return2glory]

Hoping KP is well and healthy really soon. In the meanwhile, he needs to not play because he is hurting the team out there by playing. He was bad in the Orlando series, worse in this series. Shooting 25% from the field, has not made a shot in 2 of the 3 games in this series, is getting moved around and being beat on the boards and is a step to late on defense.

Joe play Queta about 10 minutes! Give Kornet a few extra minutes. Sit KP entirely the rest of the way or until is he healthy and effective on the court.

[threrf23]

Hoping KP is well and healthy really soon. In the meanwhile, he needs to not play because he is hurting the team out there by playing. He was bad in the Orlando series, worse in this series. Shooting 25% from the field, has not made a shot in 2 of the 3 games in this series, is getting moved around and being beat on the boards and is a step to late on defense.

Joe play Queta about 10 minutes! Give Kornet a few extra minutes. Sit KP entirely the rest of the way or until is he healthy and effective on the court.

To be fair to KP, he played 19 minutes yesterday, blocked 3 shots, got to the line almost twice as much as anyone else on our team, and was a +11.

Since his illness became a thing, he has been inconsistent, but has occasionally played really well.

Queta is not a bad option for energy, rebounds, and hack-a-Mitchell.

[hickfromfrenchlick]

He's clearly still battling with the illness. He said this. And it's pretty clear, watching him play. It's not a matter of playing tougher or whatever. He's not himself.

[hugepatsfan]

He's clearly limited so I can only give so much "heat" for his not playing well. But the bigger picture issue is that his lack of availability or reduced effectiveness while playing through something is frustrating and tough to plan around. Then again, that's why he was available to us so cheaply in the first place. Remember, we were going to get him for the damaged goods of Brogdon and a 2nd if I remember correctly. Once that fell apart we pivoted to getting Porzingis and 2 1sts for Smart, which felt like more but still valued Porzingis as essentially nothing.

[hickfromfrenchlick]

Joe after the game tonight:

"I mean, he couldn't breathe," Mazzulla said of the absence of Porzingis, who's dealt with the ongoing effects from an illness that sidelined him for a stretch of games late during the regular season. "And so, he was available, if absolutely necessary. And so that was just a decision between me and him. He was having just difficulty breathing, but he wanted to be out there."

[Jellybeans]

Its just sad at this point..

[playa-hater]

If KP was healthy and playing this bad, then you can Rip him, but my god, can you feel what he is going through??, give the man a break.

[Jammer]

All I'm gonna say, without knowing what he's got, is that if he's got some sort of respiratory virus, which is not a bacterial infection, is that there ain't no pill that's gonna make it go away, it takes the body a while (maybe 2 or 3 weeks) to figure out what's going on when you stop anti-biotics and switch to self made defenses, and I've seen cases where it can take months (like 5) to get rid of a respiratory virus that's plaguing someone if they've not developed sufficient defenses. I speak from experience, twice had severe respiratory viruses, but haven't been sick in 8 years since my body developed the defenses and now I have had maybe ONE 1 day itty bitty MINOR cold in the past 8 years.

[ConstableGeneva]

To answer the OP's question, if we're expecting heat the way JB gets heat, you're out of luck. Fans don't hate KP.

But I'm ready to move on from him. Two postseasons where we've gotten very little from him relative to what we gave up and what he's being paid. Thank God we have Horford and now Kornet to fill in for him.

An expiring center who is very skilled can still ball part-time shouldn't be hard to move. Some contender will make the gamble.

Now the question becomes, what do we do with the center position? And no, "max Kornet" isn't a serious answer.

[Larry_Russell]

To answer the OP's question, if we're expecting heat the way JB gets heat, you're out of luck. Fans don't hate KP.

But I'm ready to move on from him. Two postseasons where we've gotten very little from him relative to what we gave up and what he's being paid. Thank God we have Horford and now Kornet to fill in for him.

An expiring center who is very skilled can still ball part-time shouldn't be hard to move. Some contender will make the gamble.

Now the question becomes, what do we do with the center position? And no, "max Kornet" isn't a serious answer.

I am ok to keep KP into next season depending on the rest of the offseason and what is 100% going on with his health.

If this doesnt (god forbid) get better then my guy is going to have to retire. If it gets better then lets go.


I think he will carry more value if the league knows he is healthy.


And if team is moving Jrue and Brown, then just keep KP to help train his replacement center.



As far as replacing him, I want someone with size, who is a rebounder/shotblocker/lob threat first, Mobile enough defender....and then start teaching them how to shoot.


Honestly, I think Gafford would be a suitable replacement.
Jackson Jr the perfect fit, not available
Claxton maybe
Hartenstein not available
Turner not available


Truthfully the 3 point shooting bigman is falling to the wayside so I dont think that can really be replicated. I believe below is about the only NBA Centers that truly fit that mold.

Turner
Kristaps
KAT
Davis
Wemby
Jackson Jr
Holmgren

[phincsfan]

Joe's quote “I mean, he couldn’t breathe, so, he was available if absolutely necessary. That was just a decision between me and him, he was just having difficulty breathing. He wanted to be out there, and if we absolutely needed him we would’ve been able to go to him.”

WHAT !!!!!