The Boston Celtics announced today that Kristaps Porzingis underwent successful surgery to repair a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon. Porzingis is expected to return to play in 5-6 months.
Karalis’ Analysis
This timeline means he’ll likely return somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This likely includes a few months of recovery time then rehab and conditioning. As usual, we can expect the Celtics to be very cautious about this injury and bring him back slowly.
It’s a luxury they have not only because of the championship they just won, but because they are aware of how to play without Porzingis. They’ve managed without him in the past, and they’ll have to do it again. It might impact how they handle this summer, even with their limited resources. They may choose to add some big depth to help handle the early hole they're in.
Even if they don’t, they can manage between Al Horford, Luke Kornet, Neemias Queta, and some time going small in lineups with Jayson Tatum and a bunch of shooters. With a championship under their belt, the understanding of what it takes to win trumps the need to go all out for a top seed, so there is no pressure to come out to a hot start. If the Porzingis injury means a couple of early losses, so be it. Boston has proven to be one of, if not the best road teams in the league, so even if their seeding takes a hit, they can feel good about getting home-court advantage back in the playoffs.
On the plus side for Porzingis, the later start means less of a toll on the rest of his body. He’ll get the All-Star break in fewer games than everyone else, and he will probably avoid back-to-backs all season long so he won’t face the heavy grind like some other players.
There shouldn’t be any risk of reinjury in Porzingis’ case, so once he’s back, he’s fine. Once it’s healed, the pain should be 100% gone, so he can resume normal activities without added risk. Missing the first month or two of the season will hurt the Celtics, but their depth and championship experience will carry them through. It does put more pressure on Horford who, at 38, can’t be counted on to play monster regular season minutes. Boston won’t risk also losing Horford by running him into the ground, so the other centers will have to pick up a lot of the early slack.
It makes the early part of the season tougher, but they should be able to get through it. We’ll see how tough that early part of the schedule is when that comes out in August. Maybe the Celtics will catch some early breaks that can ease the burden a little until Porzingis returns.
