Kristaps Porzingis to undergo surgery in coming days, will miss Paris Olympics
BOSTON -- Kristaps Porzingis has been celebrating his championship with the Boston Celtics for the last week. In the coming days, it will be time for the Boston big man to go under the knife.
Porzingis suffered a rare but serious injury in Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks -- a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon. He missed Game 3 and was then cleared to play in Game 4 in an extremely limited role, but never saw any action in Boston's blowout loss. He "overrode" the Celtics medical staff and played 16 minutes in the team's title-clinching Game 5 victory in Boston, despite the risk of making the injury worse.
Porzingis told ESPN after that game that he would undergo surgery in the offseason, with a recovery time of "a few months."
While no date is set for the surgery just yet, the Celtics announced that it will take place "in the coming days" in a release on Tuesday. Celtics president of basketball ops. Brad Stevens told reporters that Porzingis is consulting with specialists on a treatment plan, and a timetable for his return will be announced later this offseason.
"Kristaps is still in the middle of consulting with some different doctors and specialists. We anticipate surgery will be soon and then we'll have more of an update for a timeline of recovery after surgery," Stevens said.
Unfortunately for Porzingis, the surgery means he'll have to sit out the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where he was set to play for the Latvian team.
"Porzingis had hoped to delay surgery until after both the NBA Finals and Latvia's Olympic campaign, but the injury doesn't allow for consistent play at the level required for Olympic competition," the Celtics' statement read Tuesday.
Despite being limited for much of the playoffs, Porzingis was a matchup nightmare for Boston's opponents when he was on the court. He played in seven games, starting four, and averaged 12.3 points off 47 percent shooting along with 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game for the Celtics.