The Golden State Warriors are going into the regular season short-staffed by three critical players, but it’s center Kristaps Porzingis’ absence that will make the most notable impact. 

Porzingis is going to be out indefinitely with an undisclosed illness, forcing the Warriors to shift around their rotations while they accommodate the loss of both Porzingis’ size, presence in the paint and his three point shooting abilities. 

Missing any starter is a headache for a team, but losing out on a center provides a particularly difficult void to fill. Center’s captain the paint and serve as a crucial pivot point for the rest of the team to work around, so losing out on a starter can through the entire front court of a team off rhythm. 

To make matters worse, the Warriors will have particular difficulty filling in for Porzingis due to limited big man depth. 

While Porzingis has been in preseason, both forward Draymond Green and center/forward Al Horford have been filling in at the five. It’s a passable solution, and one Golden State will have to stick with until Porzingis is back, but it’s not an ideal situation. 

“Right now we have to kind of pivot a little bit. The way that you look at it’s Draymond (Green) is probably going to have to play some five, I’ll play some five. You know, we have (Charles) Bassey, he’ll have to play as well. We’ll just have to play in a different way, obviously missing KP (Kristaps Porzingis),” Horford said.

Green, while a defensively-minded big, is far closer to being a forward than he is a center. While he may have the tenacity to get the job done, Green will run into size issues that will make things difficult when faced against more traditionally-built centers. 

Horford has far more experience playing center than Green does, but he’s still closer to a natural forward and being thrust into a hybrid starting position at this stage in his career isn’t an ideal place for him to be in. 

Green and Horford have both stepped up to the role with enthusiasm, but there’s still a lot of concern regarding how feasible trading them out as starting centers actually is. 

The uncertainty around Porzingis’ recovery timeline only makes matters worse. Without knowing how long Porzingis is actually going to be out, there’s no real way of telling when Green and Horford will be relieved of their duties. 

There is already so much uncertainty surrounding the Warriors with injuries to Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody, that having to deal with such a shuffling at the center slot only adds to the chaos. 

Things may return to sanity by the midway point of the season when their injured players make their expected returns, but until then the Warriors will be trying to grasp into some stability, especially when it comes to the center slot.