The Boston Celtics expect Kristaps Porziņģis to miss the start of next season due to the rare ankle injury that limited him to the NBA Finals.
President of basketball operations Brad Stevens made the revelation Wednesday on The Ryen Russillo Podcast. Stevens discussed Porziņģis’ status in the context of moving from this year’s NBA Championship to the start of next season.
“We’re going to be different from the start just because – you know – we have guys like Kristaps after his surgery – we don’t know exactly when he’s coming back,” Stevens told Russillo. “He will probably miss at least the very first start of the season.”
Stevens did not elaborate further on Porziņģis’ status and recovery.
Porziņģis suffered a torn retina and a dislocated posterior tibialis tendon in his left ankle in Game 2 against the Dallas Mavericks after helping Boston in Game 1 with 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Porziņģis missed Games 3 and 4, returning in a limited capacity to play at home in Boston’s Game 5 clincher.
Porziņģis said after the series that he would need surgery for the injury. Stevens told reporters on Tuesday that Porziņģis was consulting with doctors and was expected to undergo surgery “soon.”
Stevens then declined to speculate on a timeline before acknowledging on Wednesday that Porziņģis would likely miss the start of next season and perhaps beyond.
It is not clear whether anything has changed in Porizingis’ status. Stevens provided no updates on the timeline of Porziņģis’ surgery on Wednesday.
