After a “rare” injury kept him out of two games in their NBA Finals run, Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis is headed for surgery.
Porzingis returned to the court on Monday night to help the Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, which earned them their first championship since 2008 and the franchise’s 18th overall. He told ESPN after the win that he’ll undergo surgery in the near future, and that he’ll spend a “few months” recovering. That should leave plenty of time for Porzingis to be ready for the start of next season.
Porzingis went down with a posterior tibialis dislocation in his left leg after an awkward collision with Mavericks center Dereck Lively as they were boxing out during a free throw in Game 2 of the series.
Porzingis struggled limping up the court after the collision, and he was pulled from the game early. The team described the injury, which was separate from the calf injury that kept him out of the previous two rounds of the playoffs, as “rare.”
Porzingis returned on Monday night and came off the bench in the 18-point win at TD Garden. He had five points and one rebound in 16 minutes.
“I think something could have happened, for sure, especially compensating now on the other leg now, which I just came back from,” Porzingis said after the win when asked by ESPN if he was worried about reinjuring his leg in the game. “There was definitely some added risk, but I didn’t care. I was like, ‘I want to give everything I can and then fix it after if I need to.’”
Now, Porzingis can do just that.
Porzingis averaged 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game this season with the Celtics, who acquired Porzingis in a three-way deal with the Washington Wizards last summer. The 28-year-old will enter the first year of a two-year, $60 million deal with the franchise this fall.
Though his summer and impending celebration after winning the championship may be a bit dampened with his upcoming surgery, Porzingis isn’t bothered by that one bit. After all, he’s got his ring.
“I don’t care,” Porzingis said. “I will fix it. This is the most important, and after my injury healing and all that, it’s totally worth it.”
