Warriors stop paying Kristaps Porzingis as retirement looms

Porzingis hasn't been around the team since early October, and the 31-year-old is reportedly leaning toward walking away from the NBA. Golden State has now made it official on the payroll side.

Shams Charania

@ShamsCharania

The Warriors are not delivering payments to Kristaps Porzingis on his $20 million salary, ruling that he is not rendering services, sources tell me and @anthonyVslater. Golden State is permitted to move his contract at any point before the Feb. 11 deadline even without paying him currently, and will continue exhausting trade avenues as the 31-year-old leans toward ending his NBA career. Absorbing Porzingis' near-expiring deal would allow a rival team to move a salary out and save money and clear a roster spot via a buyout.

Shams Charania

@ShamsCharania

Reporting for NBA Today on Kristaps Porzingis seriously contemplating stepping away from basketball -- for good -- as the Warriors explore trades using his nearly expiring contract: t.co/YK5bGwwDma

The health part is why this is hard to watch. Porzingis has been dealing with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, better known as POTS, since last fall, and he's been out indefinitely. This isn't a guy holding out for a new deal. It's a 7-footer who might be done, and a front office handling that with the collective bargaining agreement in hand.

And the CBA has teeth. A player who isn't rendering services loses 1/91.6th of his salary for every game, and the Warriors don't get any cap relief for their trouble.

ClutchPoints

@ClutchPoints

The Warriors can move Kristaps Porzingis' contract at any time before the trade deadline, even without paying him currently, per @ShamsCharania. Golden State will "continue exhausting trade avenues as [Porzingis] leans toward ending his NBA career."

That's the trap Golden State is in. Porzingis re-signed this summer on a 2-year, $40 million deal, and the full $20 million is still on the books for the cap, the tax and the apron even though none of it is going out. The withheld paychecks save real money. They don't give the Warriors any room to work with on the cap sheet.

Bobby Marks

@BobbyMarks42

Failure to render services is costing Kristaps Porzingis $218,341 (1/91.6 per game). His $20M salary continues to count against the cap/tax/apron.

So it's a trade. The contract is close to expiring: only $3 million of next season's $20 million is guaranteed, and that makes it useful salary-matching ballast. A team taking it on can send out a bigger contract, save money and clear a roster spot with a buyout. For the Warriors, it's the cleanest way to turn a dead $20 million into something that helps a team still trying to win around Steph Curry.

Jake Fischer

@JakeLFischer

We've got a full story on the Warriors withholding payment from Kristaps Porzingis about to publish at @TheSteinLine. Stay tuned.

The deadline is Feb. 11, and Golden State can move the deal any time before then, paying him or not. There's more coming too, since Jake Fischer and The Stein Line have a full story on the standoff on the way. The basketball question is pretty much settled. What's left is a business one: who takes the contract, and whether Porzingis makes the retirement call before a trade does it for him.