By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Kristaps Porzingis was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Golden State Warriors, according to ESPN senior NBA insider Shams Charania on Wednesday.
Heading to the league’s trade deadline on Thursday, the two teams reached a deal for the Latvian forward/center, which also sends Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Hawks.
The Warriors also traded Trayce Jackson-Davis to the Toronto Raptors for this summer’s second-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers.
With several assets off the board and removed from a possible bid for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Warriors instead opted to strengthen the big positions with 30-year-old Porzingis, and also resolved a complicated situation surrounding Kuminga.
Slowed down by several setbacks during his NBA career, the Liepaja native is a veteran of 546 games. Before heading to the Hawks via trade last June, he suited up for the Boston Celtics between 2023 and 2025, the Washington Wizards from 2022 to 2023, the Dallas Mavericks from 2019 to 2022, and the New York Knicks from 2015 to 2019. A fourth overall draft pick in 2015, he was part of the 2023-24 championship season of the C’s and was initially named in the 2018 All-Star Game before being sidelined due to injury.
In the ongoing Regular Season, he averaged 17.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.5 blocks per contest over 17 appearances.
Before taking his talents to the league based in North America, Porzingis was the Rising Star of the 2014-15 installment of the EuroCup as a Seville player.
In addition, he suited up for the senior national team of Latvia in the 2017 and 2025 editions of EuroBasket.