Kristaps Porziņģis has not been at the Golden State Warriors’ facility since early October, and the question of whether he will suit up for them again has followed the team through the opening weeks of the season. On Wednesday, it also became a question about his paychecks.

ESPN’s Anthony Slater and Shams Charania reported, citing league sources, that the Warriors are not making Porziņģis’ semimonthly payments on his $20 million salary after ruling that the 31-year-old center is not rendering his services. The same report said Porziņģis is leaning toward retirement.

The reaction has centered on sympathy for Porziņģis and on how strange his situation has become.

NBA Fans React to Kristaps Porziņģis’ Health Struggles

The Warriors committed to Porziņģis this summer with a two-year, $40 million extension, despite a health issue that had lingered through his previous two seasons. Just before training camp opened, he phoned general manager Mike Dunleavy and left the team.

The expectation, team sources told ESPN, was that Porziņģis would recover at the facility, around the medical staff and his teammates, once an initial stretch of time had passed.

The Warriors announced in early October that Porziņģis would be around, following a meeting with Dunleavy and Rick Celebrini, the team’s lead medical decision-maker. After that statement, Porziņģis left the facility, and he has not returned.

Insider Jake Fischer reported recently, “It’s a situation similar, I’m told, to when Philadelphia withheld Ben Simmons’ salary while the Sixers’ then-point guard did not report to training camp at the start of the 2021-22 season. Yet a key difference is that Porziņģis, unlike Simmons, has not demanded to be traded. It’s also believed that Porziņģis is strongly contemplating retirement.”

The Warriors now list him as “not with team,” a switch the report called purposeful. Until then, he had been out with “general illness,” the same designation the team used for his absences last season. One fan put the whole saga plainly: “Most bizarre health situation ever.”

For others, the possibility that Porziņģis walks away was the bigger story. “This is really sad to see. At least he got to be an All-Star and win a championship in his career,” another fan wrote.

Another fan looked back across Porziņģis’ time in the league and the setbacks that have come with it: “So sad. He was special before he tore his knee, and even after he’s been incredible. Truly a fun player to watch.”

One fan turned the focus to the Warriors’ decision: “It’s so messed up that they’re not paying him. He is injured.”

But the Warriors’ case, as the report laid it out, rests on his continued absence since that October statement, and Golden State no longer treats it as excused. League sources also said Porziņģis is not disputing the missed payments.

Withholding his pay is not the same as cutting ties. Team sources said the Warriors are not planning, for now, to void the contract, which would end it outright. Leaving the deal intact keeps them free to trade it before the February 11 deadline.

Only $3 million of the deal’s second season is guaranteed, which leaves his salary close to expiring, and Dunleavy’s front office is still pursuing trade options involving the contract, ESPN reported.

There were rumors last year that Porziņģis was suffering from POTS, and that was the mystery illness. But that turned out to be misinformation, as even head coach Steve Kerr admitted publicly.

As of now, Porziņģis and the Warriors have not disclosed what kind of illness that he’s battling, but it sure seems like it has been ‘really difficult,’ as Kerr also admitted earlier this year.

Golden State is 5-3 and seventh in the Western Conference, with five straight wins since a 0-3 start. Another fan still saw a higher ceiling: “If only Porzingis could play, my Warriors would be unstoppable.”

Porziņģis is still on Golden State’s roster for now. The front office has a little more than three months to find a trade, and whether he will play again for the Warriors or anyone else remains undecided.