As Kristaps Porzingis misses fourth straight game with illness, Steve Kerr says POTS comment was ‘stupid mistake'

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he made a "stupid mistake" Friday night speaking to 95.7 The Game about Kristaps Porzingis and his postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) diagnosis.

Speaking pregame Saturday before the Warriors played the Los Angeles Lakers at Chase Center, Kerr acknowledged he talked about "something that I'm not qualified to talk about" with regards to Porzingis.

On Friday's edition of Willard and Dibs, Kerr said Atlanta Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh told him Porzingis didn't have POTS - as widely reported. Porzingis missed 40 games last year for the Boston Celtics in part because of an energy-zapping condition he told The Athletic last year was POTS.

"We had internal discussions and I've talked to Kristaps and he told me he's feeling good," Kerr said Friday on 95.7 The Game. "We haven't gone into depth with his illness stuff in Atlanta, but yeah. I got confirmation it was not POTS but it was something else that was really difficult to figure out and that's sometimes the case, even in this modern age where we have a lot of answers, we never have all of them. And sometimes there's mysterious stuff."

On Saturday, Kerr said "I regretted even trying to discuss the diagnosis. That was my mistake and I need to leave that to the professionals."

Porzingis was scratched Saturday with the illness that kept out the previous three games, meaning he has played for the Warriors once since they acquired him from Atlanta at the NBA's trade deadline. In his team debut Feb. 19 against the Boston Celtics, he scored 12 points in 17 minutes.

"He's sick … and we'll see about Monday" versus the Los Angeles Clippers, Kerr said. "I can't really say anything, just that it's a medical issue way beyond my capabilities explaining anything. So, yeah, he's sick. He won't play and we'll keep monitoring."

Porzingis has been limited to 18 games this season, including 17 for Atlanta. 

This article originally published at As Kristaps Porzingis misses fourth straight game with illness, Steve Kerr says POTS comment was ‘stupid mistake'.