Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis gets 'surprise' injury update from Brad Stevens

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Fresh off their 18th championship, the most out of any team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics are preparing for the 2024-25 season with the mindset that they are once again the best team in the league. This truly isn’t hard to imagine either, as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday all return and headline the Celtics’ championship roster. While Kristaps Porzingis is also back with the team, he is currently recovering from offseason surgery he had in June to repair a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon, an injury he suffered in the 2024 NBA Finals.

Originally, the Celtics said the expectation was for Porzingis to return to play in five-to-six months, meaning he would miss the first month or two of the regular season. Despite the notion that Boston’s big man is still set to be sidelined to begin the year, there is a sense of internal optimism that Porzingis will be back sooner than many would have imagined.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla recently provided an update on Porzingis, stating that his big man has been recovering well, but there was no timetable for his eventual return. On Tuesday, during the Celtics’ media day, Brad Stevens spoke to reporters and gave the latest update on Porzingis’ health, claiming that the All-Star could return sooner than imagined.

Reigning Executive of the Year Brad Stevens on the health status of Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis following his surgery to his foot/ankle:

"[KP] seems to be recovering well, he's very optimistic. I don't know that we're interested in putting a timeline on it because the… pic.twitter.com/cjvHtyI7CG

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 24, 2024

“Kristaps obviously had surgery that was well documented after the year and he seems to be recovering well. He’s very optimistic,” Stevens stated, via ClutchPoints Celtics reporter Daniel Donabedian. “I don’t know that we’re interested in putting a timeline on it because the injury is unique.

“But as far as how he feels and the progress that he’s made, I’d say we’re very very pleased with where he is, and maybe a little surprised.”

Kristaps Porzingis to return earlier than expected?

This is certainly an update that Celtics fans will be happy to hear, especially given how meaningful Porzingis’ presence on the court is. Boston went 43-14 in the 57 regular-season games Porzingis participated in, and the team lost just one playoff game when he played. In total, Porzingis averaged 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game during the 2023-24 season.

When speaking with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne recently, Porzingis claimed that the expectation entering the year is for him to return at some point before the new year.

“The expectation is sometime in December,” Porzingis said. “But I’m feeling really good and I’m working towards hopefully playing earlier than that.”

Porzingis being sidelined to begin the 2024-25 season means that the Celtics will obviously turn to veteran big man Al Horford to start at the center position alongside the championship core of Tatum, Brown, White, and Holiday. Xavier Tillman Sr. and Luke Kornet will both hold key roles off the bench as well in the absence of Porzingis to begin the new year.

The Celtics once again have high title aspirations, and even without Porzingis as he recovers from offseason surgery, the expectation is to still sit atop the Eastern Conference standings. The first several weeks of the regular season that Boston is without Porzingis will be very telling as to if any team will have a real chance to dethrone them.

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