New Kristaps Porzingis injury update should have fans raising eyebrows

BRIGHTON — The Boston Celtics have enjoyed a great start to the season. They are sitting comfortably at 10-3, in second place in the Eastern Conference, behind only the still-undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers. But perhaps most impressively is the fact that they’ve gotten to this point without the help of Kristaps Porzingis.

The Latvian big man is set to return sometime around December, but there’s still no clear date on when he could be back. He suffered a rare foot injury in the NBA Finals that required offseason surgery, from which he is still recovering. He’s been around the team all year, but still, he’s not ready to make his return.

But he’s getting there.

Kristaps Porzingis is getting better

After Celtics practice on Friday, head coach Joe Mazzulla was asked about Porznigis’ recovery. When initially posed a question about how the big man is looking, Mazzulla offered up nothing more than a simple, “He’s getting there.”

However, when pushed for more details on what Porzingis has been able to do amidst his ramp-up, Mazzulla pulled back the curtain ever so slightly.

“He's been able to do some stuff on the court,” Mazzulla said. “Some reads versus the coaches. Some up-and-down work. Five-on-0 versus the coaches today. So, it's getting there.”

Obviously, neither Mazzulla nor the Celtics are going to provide any unnecessary information to the public about how Porzingis’ recovery is going. They want to keep things in-house, and understandably so.

But to hear that Porzingis is slowly starting to get on the court a bit more, even if it is just with some of the coaches, is a great sign. It’s good to hear that he’s getting his feet under him a bit more, and fans should start raising some eyebrows after hearing the good news. His return date could be coming up in the next month or so.

When Porzingis spoke to reporters at Media Day, he seemed to be in great spirits, even noting that he had progressed to running a bit at times.

Now, as December rapidly approaches, it’s looking more and more like Porzingis could be back on the court sooner rather than later. And that’s great news for Boston.

Obviously, they’ve been fine without him, and even when he does come back, they’ll almost assuredly ease him into things, but having him available to play will make an already-elite Celtics squad even better.

Porzingis is an All-Star-caliber talent. His post game will give the Celtics another option to run through on offense, and his elite paint defense will shore up some of the issues they’ve been having in that area this year.