The Boston Celtics were reportedly unaware of the foot injury of their marquee offseason addition, Kristaps Porzingis, before trading Marcus Smart for him on June 22 according to MassLive’s Brian Robb.
“The Celtics were not aware of the foot injury when they dealt away Marcus Smart, Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala as part of the three-team deal to acquire Porzingis in June,” Robb wrote. The MassLive reporter would add context that Brad Stevens isn’t worried about the injury bleeding into the 2024-25 season; the first campaign of Porzingis’ two-year, $60 million extension signed on July 8.
“You never know how it all ends up,” Stevens prefaced before saying, “From a sports science perspective and physical therapists, they are as good as I’ve been around about navigating. and managing that if we do this now, we’ll be in good shape. If you manage it, if you treat it correctly and you ramp back up at the right rate, it has a lot less chance of being a lingering issue. This isn’t what I would call a significant injury that you are concerned about big picture.”
Boston Celtics PBO on Kristaps Porzingis missing FIBA World Cup: ‘He was heartbroken’
Stevens later admitted that Porzingis took the injury that meant he wouldn’t be able to compete in the FIBA World Cup hard — with the Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations claiming that the Latvian center was “heartbroken” by the news.
“Those guys that represent their countries, they really enjoy that opportunity,” Stevens prefaced before saying, “He was heartbroken not to do it but he put the opportunity here and took away any chance of having lingering effects by addressing it now. It shouldn’t be a big deal.”
Luckily, Stevens did assure fans that these issues should be squashed because Porzingis is addressing that now. The ink is barely dried on a commitment that tied Porzingis to the team as long as anyone not named Jaylen Brown.