Preview: Curry not ready, Porzingis poised for first appearance

To tank, or not to tank? It may be out of Warriors' control

Feb 19, 2026

This game could be a little weird. Though Golden State Warriors’ star, Stephen Curry won’t be returning to action tonight, his team will debut their new frontcourt assembled via free agency and the trade market. The same frontcourt that featured heavily in the 2024 championship run that tonight’s opponent, the Boston Celtics, is still trying to follow up on.

Most importantly, the Warriors announcement that Curry will remain out is a chillingly cold moment. Like that last step off the stairs into a cold pool. If Curry isn’t healthy yet - with just 27 games left in the regular season - this season could end in a thud.

Via ESPN:

Prior to the break, Warriors coach Steve Kerr expressed optimism that the swelling and pain in Curry’s right knee would calm and he’d perhaps get clearance for Thursday night. But Curry returned to the facility Wednesday night and told the training staff his “runner’s knee” didn’t feel quite ready to participate in a live scrimmage.
“Just wasn’t where he needed to be,” Kerr said. “It’s unfortunate. We’ll have an update tomorrow after he goes through his time with the training staff.”
Kerr said it’s possible Curry will get another MRI after consulting with Rick Celebrini, the team’s lead medical decision-maker.

Damn.

But it does sound like there’s further evaluation needed, this isn’t a disaster right away.

GAME DETAILS

WHO: Golden State Warriors () vs. Boston Celtics ()

WHEN: Thursday, February 19th, 2026; 7pm PST

WATCH: NBCSBA

What will Porzingis unlock?

Against the looming shadow of Curry’s ongoing absence, there is some new blood in town. Kristaps Porzingis would seem to be the next natural evolution of Golden State’s ongoing chase for reliable centers that aren’t named Draymond Green. Porzingis joins this team like some crazy amalgamation of the historical greats of Golden State’s most recent era: Andris Biedrins, and Andrew Bogut. He’s Latvian, and while he is a natural righty, likely can shoot better free throws left handed than Biedrins ever could. And like Bogut, Porzingis is a former elite prospect that comes in as an injury-plagued gamble.

Where Andris Biedrins once supplied vertical pressure and Andrew Bogut provided defensive orchestration, Porzingis suggests a synthesis more suited to the modern game: length that protects the rim, shooting that dislocates traditional coverages, and enough mobility to keep Golden State’s read-and-react principles intact.This isn’t about what he can do for this team in the next couple of weeks, but a strong early showing could be transformative. After losing their top two players, Golden State has been leaning into a scrappy model, one that emphasis players making the right plays, though they may be a bit undersized across the board. Not so with Porzingis. The Unicorn.

Golden State’s offense has never been predicated on size so much as decision speed - a sequence of cuts, screens, and relocations that punish hesitation. A 7-footer who can space the floor without requiring the ball to stop? That will introduce relief into that sequence rather than the friction that has become a growing pain point for the Warriors.

Seriously, take a moment and look at the peak of this man’s game.

Send extra attention toward Stephen Curry above the arc and Porziņģis becomes an unobstructed release point; remain attached to shooters and Curry finds the daylight that has grown increasingly scarce. Either choice extracts a cost, which is precisely what this offense has struggled to impose in recent weeks.

In the time since those highlights, his career Porzingis has been beset by injuries. There are some parallels here too with Jonathan Kuminga. The New York Knicks drafted Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, and he had four generally successful season there before getting traded away.1

The injuries are significant, but it all starts with the knee in 2019. An injury that ultimately contributed to his departure from the Knicks, and started his journeyman path in the NBA. Yes, he has a ring from Boston, but he was marginal at best in the overall picture - Horford was significantly more impactful.

So yes, thoughts naturally wonder if this is a tank move. If Curry can’t go for a while, maybe this is a sink or swim moment for the rest of the roster. And perhaps, that was a large part of the rubric behind this roster move.

But this is why a move for Porzingis at this point is so intriguing - this could really work. Either way!

“He provides post-ups,” Kerr said. “You throw him the ball at the foul line, the elbows, even the low block—he can score in those spots.”

Kerr has drawn some heat due to his tendencies, but from Mo Speights to Gary Payton to Quinten Post, the coach has shown a willingness to get creative when it comes to finding value out of the center position. Porzingis, more than any other option that has come before him, may slot the most naturally into coach Kerr’s visions.

It’s a brand new wrinkle for this Warriors team; and though the absence of the top players will surely impact their fortunes, something tells me Kerr is about to unleash a new era of asynchronous warfare. A 7’2” stretch five that also provides rim protection should slot in perfectly alongside the Warriors’ current core rotation.

In those games prior to the All-Star break, the Warriors have telegraphed their moves in the near future as well. This is a ferocious, hustling team that will be stacking on both ends of the court. Adding Porzingis to the fray only increases the potential for weird advantages - assuming he can still run around and stay healthy, there are some deadly potential combinations out there.

Players like Gui Santos, De’Anthony Melton, and Pat Spencer have been helping Draymond Green drive the scrappy Warriors, but with Porzingis as an option, the team may suddenly find themselves with a balanced roster - or, as balanced as any roster can be without their two best players.

I know, I know. It’s not easy to get excited on the off chance that Porzingis will be healthy, but that’s the beauty of this trade: the Warriors are comfortable with any outcome of this experiment. For now, it will be proof of concept, but a shooting big that also plays defense, alongside Green, Post, Horford, or any combination thereof, should be real interesting.

It also redistributes the physical economy of the defense. With legitimate rim protection behind him, Draymond Green can anticipate rather than absorb, direct rather than collide. Small distinctions that accumulate.

Whether this works will not be decided in a single night, or even in the first week. It will reveal itself slowly — in cleaner rotations, in fewer desperate scrambles, in possessions that feel less like survival and more like intention.

If Porziņģis can stay on the floor, he gives this team something it has quietly lacked: margin. Margin at the rim. Margin in spacing. Margin in the physical toll exacted over the course of a season that has already asked too much.

That may not restore what once was. It may not be enough to change the ultimate destination - especially If Curry’s knee lingers much longer and this version of the team can’t win.

But it could make the journey feel dangerous again.

Bonus

The KD files

Here at DNHQ, we don’t necessarily cover everything, but every now and then, there are developments significant enough to warrant a quick look. In case you missed it, one of Kevin Durant’s private accounts was allegedly exposed just ahead of last weekend’s All-Star game.

Durant’s greatness has always come with a certain unpredictability — not drama for its own sake, but a refusal to settle into the polished mythmaking that surrounds most superstars. He could be brilliant, distant, funny, inscrutable, all within the same week. That texture sometimes felt unfamiliar in a place that had grown accustomed to the steady gravitational pull of Stephen Curry, whose consistency of temperament has been as vital to the Warriors as his shooting. Durant lifted the ceiling of what was possible; Curry ensured the structure never shook apart. For a few seasons, that combination didn’t just win - it overwhelmed. And it still wasn’t enticing enough to keep KD here.

Every truly famous person I know (and it isn’t a long list) has some private accounts. I don’t know how much of those KD files are real or not, but it feels plausible - I’m also super glad it ins’t my favorite team’s problem that one of our best players is trashing our emerging cornerstones in public. Complicated.