Steve Kerr is holding back on encouraging news about Kristaps Porzingis’ injury

SAN FRANCISCO – Hopefully The Golden State Warriors could get an extra deadline to trade Kristaps Porzingis returned after an extended hiatus following the All-Star break, Steve Kerr provided an encouraging injury update for the big man.

“Kristaps has been here the last couple of days, and he practiced with the team today,” Kerr said, an improvement from the last update in which he did 5-on-5 in the half-court.

“He looks good. He feels good. We won’t make a decision until after tomorrow when we practice tomorrow afternoon. We’ll get up and get down on the floor and fight, which we didn’t do today.”

As far as Stephen Curry, who has missed the last five games with patellofemoral pain syndrome in his knee, Kerr didn’t have much of an update on the star point guard as the team gave him and the veterans an extra day off.

The Warriors essentially sat him out of the final two games before the break and the All-Star break to give him as much time as possible to get his runner’s knee under control. The idea is to get him and Porzingis as healthy as possible for the 27-game sprint ahead as they look to get out of the eighth seed and into the tournament.

They succeeded with the first part of the plan. Porzingis spent the break rehabbing with the team, while Curry stayed on his feet — except for one crazy trick shot on All-Star weekend in LA. Now comes the assessment of their progress as they look to bring them back for the home run.

“That’s the hope,” Kerr admitted. “But again, we have to… We haven’t seen Steph yet, and Kristaps needs to take part in the fight first. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”

What the Warriors envision for Kristaps Porzingis

As many pointed out after the acquisition of Porzingis, his size, defense and shooting fits the type of player the Warriors have been looking for for years. Obviously, that vision requires Porzingis’s medical history to remain stable, but that hasn’t dampened Kerr’s or the Warriors’ excitement about what he can be for them.

Kerr claimed they wouldn’t have traded for Porzingis if they weren’t sure about his health. And while much of that confidence likely rests with the highly touted Rick Celebrini and his top-notch medical staff, the Warriors feel outwardly confident in what Porzingis brings to the table.

“He’s fitting in easily,” Kerr told reporters Wednesday night after their first practice since the break. “You don’t have to make a lot of changes. You know, the biggest difference, I guess, that he provides is his post-up players. He’s a pretty good post-up player, especially against the switch. You throw him the ball at the foul line, elbows, even a low block.”

With Porzingis, the Warriors are looking for band-aids for a Jimmy Butler-sized gaping hole in their offense. Kerr noted that the spacing Porzingis generates will be different than what Butler offered, but he is excited about his ability to play within their trademarks.

“I’m actually more excited that he’s in the split and somebody else has the ball,” Kerr said. “When we throw him the ball in the post, we’re going to ask him to score quite a bit, but he’s such a dynamic player that you can throw him. He can shoot it on the move. He’s not just a pick-and-pop. … So he should fit into everything we do pretty smoothly.”