After months of waiting, the full Boston Celtics schedule for the 2025-26 season has finally been released. Fans can start planning out which games they’d like to be in the building for at TD Garden, or at the very least, seated on the couch with their evening cleared so they can watch live.
The upcoming campaign is a unique one in the sense that the marquee games won’t necessarily be because of two championship-level teams clashing, and moreso about the memories that come with seeing old friends come back to town.
On Jan. 28, 2026, Kristaps Porzingis will make his return to TD Garden after being traded to the Atlanta Hawks back in late June. Boston dealt the Latvian big man in an effort to dive below the league’s second-apron line and avoid the severe penalties that accompany spending above the threshold.
Offloading him and his $30 million salary for the upcoming season was, unfortunately, necessary towards the team’s goal of resetting their cap penalties.
"We've known for a long time that hard decisions were coming," Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens said of the team’s offseason firesale. "The second apron is why those trades happened. I think that is pretty obvious. And the basketball penalties associated with those are real. ... So that was part of making the decision to push and put our chips on the table and go for the last two years."
Porzingis earned a long-lasting bond with Celtics fans
Though he was only sporadically available during his time with the Cs, Porzingis had a great bond with the fanbase, and the organization. That bond doesn’t seem to have been broken in his exit.
“Boston will always be special in my heart,” Porzingis wrote in a post to social media in the days following his trade. “Huge thank you to the organization, coaches, staff, my teammates and the fans! Class organization. Forever grateful.”
Boston will always be special in my heart.
— Kristaps Porzingis (@kporzee) June 25, 2025
Huge thank you to the organization, coaches, staff, my teammates and the fans!
Class organization. Forever grateful. ☘️ pic.twitter.com/z1KhKocN1I
Anytime Porzingis took the floor for the Celtics, he was a game-changer. His post presence gave the offense an additional layer, unlike one it’d seen during the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown era.
On the opposite end of the floor, he did a tremendous job protecting the rim as a help defender and served up a plethora of rejections on the regular.
KP made a significant contribution during the 64-win season in 2024. He appeared in 57 games, averaging 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per appearance, while shooting 51.6% from the field and 37.5% from deep.
His most memorable moment in Boston will always be his explosive performance in Game 1 of that season’s NBA Finals. Porzingis returned to the lineup with a bang after missing two playoff rounds with a calf strain. He checked in off the bench and lit the game on fire. The big man poured in 11 first-quarter points and sent back a trio of shots in that span. He finished with 20 points and set the tone for what would be a lopsided series.
Though illness kept him from making an impact in the 2025 playoffs, there’s no doubt that Porzingis will be on the receiving end of a warm welcome when he is introduced back in Boston.