Steve Kerr just dropped a shocking update on Kristaps Porzingis' POTS condition.
According to Kerr, he was on the phone with Onsi Saleh, a former co-worker of Kerr's in the Golden State front office, discussing Porzingis' mystery ailment. Kerr had this to say, "After the trade...I called Onsi Saleh, Atlanta's GM, and I asked, 'Is this POTS story real? ‘He said, 'It's actually not POTS.' So that was misinformation that was out there."
Kerr doubled down, saying, "I got confirmation that it was not POTS, but it was something else that was really difficult to figure out."
This update has gargantuan implications for not only Porzingis' career, but also for the trade in which he very recently played a massive part in. Given Jonathan Kuminga's recent breakout, the trade seemed to favor Atlanta by a landslide. With a healthy Porzingis? Maybe not so much.
This baffling development begs an elephant of a question: why did Onsi never make Porzingis' condition (or rather, lack thereof) public knowledge?
Onsi and Atlanta's front office always had Porzingis' interests in mind
The most likely answer to this question is simple: Saleh wanted to make sure Porzingis was fully treated, fully rested, and fully himself before taking any unnecessary risks.
As soon as Trae Young went down early this season, Onsi had to have known that a deep playoff run with this roster was a long shot. He immediately pivoted to a new approach: develop young talent and take care of aging stars.
Saleh traded Trae Young away to open up opportunities for Jalen Johnson and the rest of the young core. Similarly, he likely took Porzingis' misdiagnosis of POTS and ran with it. While KP may have had a condition either more or less serious than POTS (the specifics of which are still unknown), there's little doubt that he was playing through an ailment of some sort.
Onsi likely allowed KP to rest a fair deal more than he needed to, siding with caution with the Latvian sensation for two reasons: Porzingis' recovery and developing the younger bigs (Okongwu and Gueye).
Porzingis ultimately got his wish of playing for a (fringe) contending team, where he has the opportunity to receive a lucrative contract extension this offseason in a talent vacuum at his position.
At the same time, Atlanta got their wish. Porzingis' return was Kuminga, who has already exceeded the wildest imaginations of Hawks fans. While Atlanta may not have robbed the Warriors blind as was assumed mere days ago, a win-win trade isn't so bad after all.