Warriors To Re-Sign Kristaps Porzingis

It’s a pretty significant pay cut for the Latvian big man, who has made between $27-36MM each of the past seven seasons. But there’s a reason he accepted less money — his availability has been very limited over the past two years, appearing in just 42 and 32 games, respectively.

Porzingis, who battled a series of injuries earlier in his career, and has dealt with an illness – diagnosed as POTS – for the past season and a half. He was still highly effective last season when he played — the Warriors were 6.4 points per 100 possessions better when he was on the court, and that number was even higher (7.8 points per 100 possessions) during his time with Atlanta. But again, he only played 32 games.

Porzingis turns 31 in August and provides an enticing combination of being able to score at all three levels — including from well beyond the three-point line — and being able to protect the rim on defense. At 7’2″, he’s a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses when he’s active.

In his 32 games with the Hawks and Warriors last season, Porzingis averaged 16.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 blocks on .446/.338/.842 shooting in just 24.0 minutes per contest. Golden State acquired Porzingis in February in the trade that sent Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to Atlanta.

The Warriors are reportedly pursuing both Anthony Davis (via trade) and LeBron James (via the full mid-level exception). According to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter links), it’s technically still possible for the Warriors to acquire both of those longtime stars, but it would require trading Jimmy Butler (and draft assets) for Davis, salary-dumping Moses Moody‘s contract, and Draymond Green re-signing on new deal that features an identical (or lower) cap hit to Porzingis.

If Golden State is unable to shed Moody’s salary, the team likely wouldn’t be able to use more than the taxpayer MLE, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). That projects to be worth $6.1MM next season, vs. $15MM for the full MLE. The Warriors will be hard-capped at the first tax apron if they use more than the taxpayer portion of the MLE.

Re-signing Porzingis was long viewed as a priority for the Warriors, and multiple reports indicated that a deal was expected to come together before he could reach the open market on Tuesday. He’s technically signing an extension, which he was eligible for through June 30, not a new contract.

Porzingis was No. 22 on our list of 2026’s top 50 free agents.