Porzingis' illness sidelines him again, impacting critical matchups and raising concerns about his availability and role with the Hawks.
The Atlanta Hawks return to action Friday night in Detroit, where they are set to take on the red-hot Detroit Pistons. Atlanta will be looking to pick up their first win against Detroit this season, and will be doing so without their star center Kristaps Porziņģis.
Late Thursday afternoon, the Hawks put out their initial injury report for Friday night's game against the Pistons. Despite the five-day break from on-court action, Porziņģis was ruled out with an illness.
This will be the third time Porziņģis has missed an important matchup with Detroit this season. Atlanta is 0-2 against them as they have lacked the size and physicality necessary to compete.
If Hawks fans weren't already sounding the alarm about Porziņģis' health, now would be the proper time to. This will be his seventh missed game in Atlanta's last nine.
Alongside Porziņģis on the injury report were N'Faly Dante, Jacob Toppin and Trae Young.
General Manager Onsi Saleh knew what he was getting into when he made the blockbuster move this summer. He has played less than 60 games in six of his ten NBA seasons and is on track to continue that trend in his first year with the Atlanta Hawks.
Through the team's first 26 games, he will have only played in 13 of them. Through those 13 games, Porziņģis is still putting up quality numbers.
This season, he is averaging 19.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 blocks on 49.7% from the field and 36.4% from three.
Head Coach Quin Snyder will once again have to turn to Onyeka Okongwu, who has been doing an incredible job as Atlanta's more reliable starting center.
On the year, Okongwu is averaging 16.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 blocks on 50.7% from the field and 35.5% from three. He has played in 24 out of Atlanta's 25 games and started in 13 of them.
In fact, the last game Porziņģis suited up in was against the Nuggets, where Atlanta lost 133-134. Before the game, Snyder made the bold decision to bring Porziņģis off the bench for Okongwu.
While Porziņģis was technically on a minutes restriction, this could be a sign of what's to come. If he is going to continue the trend of only playing once every 3-4 games, the Hawks cannot afford to put him in any role larger than that of a sixth man.
KP missing Friday night's matchup comes as a major disappointment to Hawks fans who had hoped the five-day break was enough of a rest.