The Boston Celtics are focused on a December return for big-name player Kristaps Porzingis, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. Porzingis is still recovering from offseason ankle surgery to treat unprecedented trauma he suffered in Game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals.
When Porzingis went under the knife in late June to repair a torn retinaculum and posterior tibial tendon dislocation, the initial timeline was five to six months, so a December return would put him well on track.
“The Celtics are targeting December, from what I’m told, for Kristaps Porzingis and his return,” Charania said. “And there was a video I saw last night of him warming up before the game. He hasn’t progressed to contact yet, but… he looks very, very good.
“If they didn’t have the luxury of being where they are now, maybe you have more pressure to reorder KP, but they have the luxury of being able to be patient. They don’t necessarily want to scare it away in any way. If it ends up taking until January, but currently They are focused on December. It may also be earlier, but currently you are actually curious about that time.”
That coincides with what Celtics president Brad Stevens had to say just before training camp at the end of September. Porzingis’ injury was “a lot of things that we won’t have to get away with anything else,” Stevens said, adding that the organization was “very, more than happy with where it is and possibly a little surprised.” .
Any concerns about how the Celtics would fare without Porzingis this season were temporarily dispelled. The defending champions destroyed the unbroken York Knicks on opening night and are off to a terrific 4-0 start, with three of those wins by double-digit margins.
The Celtics boast an incredible offensive rating of 126.1, which leads the league by nearly four points per 100 possessions, and a net rating of plus-14.9. In the first game against the Knicks, they set the NBA record for three-pointers made in a game with 29, and they lead the league in three-pointers (21.5) and shots (50.3) depending on the game, in addition to sharing (42.8) .
Because they’ve been destroying teams, they haven’t had to put too much of a burden on Al Horford, who is now 38-years-old disabled and has slipped back into the original lineup in Porzingis’s playground. The veteran is averaging 26.3 minutes per game so far, which is a tick below where he used to be last season (26.8).
Throwing Porzingis and his unique skills back into the mix will only make the Celtics even worse. He averaged 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks at the time last season, shooting 37.5% on 5.1 3-point shots per game. That was the fourth life in his career in which he had at least 1,000 problems, 100 three-pointers and 100 blocks. No one else in NBA history has as many such seasons.
