Celtics likely without injured Finals hero to start next season

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Kristaps Porzingis is set to undergo surgery and will have to pass on the opportunity to represent Lithuania at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Porzingis dealt with two separate injuries during the NBA playoffs, suffering a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon  in Game 2 of the NBA Finals after earlier sitting out the bulk of the postseason with a calf injury.

In a recent interview with Ryen Rusillo of The Ringer, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens confirmed Porzingis could miss the start of the 2024-25 season. 

“Kristaps, after his surgery, we don’t know exactly when he’ll be back, but he’ll probably miss at least the very start of the season,” Stevens said. “So that’ll be a great opportunity for us to do things different and have to find different solutions.”

Porzingis is a crucial part of Joe Mazzulla’s rotation, but Boston should be fine navigating the opening weeks of a new season without the star big man. After all, Mazzulla’s team navigated multiple rounds of the playoffs en route to ending a 16-year championship drought. 

The Celtics’ most important goal is getting Porzingis back at 100% before he returns to the court, after which they figure to be eager to ensure that his health is managed throughout the season as they look to defend their championship. Multiple teams around the NBA are expected to retool their rosters and improve their rotations in an attempt to dethrone the Celtics. 

Celtics fans should expect Porzingis to take a while to get back up to speed, too. He won’t be able to work out during the summer. As such, he must play himself back into shape on the fly. Boston doesn’t need Porzingis healthy to start the season. It’s wise to let him recover and rehab. Once he’s back in the rotation, the Celtics should have the upside to once more play as the unstoppable force we saw this past season. 

Still, Mazzulla’s team may have to get creative if it wants to get off to a good start. Porzingis is one of the teams most important players. 

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