2 Celtics players had offseason procedures to deal with injuries

BOSTON – Heading into the season, the Boston Celtics are pretty healthy outside of Kristaps Porzingis. The Latvian big man is going to miss a ton of time to start the year, as he told Ramona Shelbourne of ESPN that he hopes to be back by December. In his wake, multiple guys will have to step up and fill his shoes.

Obviously, 38-year-old veteran Al Horford will almost certainly be Boston’s night-to-night starter. But with him sitting out back-to-backs and needing some rest days, the Celtics’ depth trio of Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman, and Neemias Queta will also need to step up and play some real minutes throughout the course of the regular season.

However, even that group is dealing with some nicks and bruises.

Xavier Tillman and Luke Kornet had offseason procedures to deal with injuries

According to Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens, Tillman and Kornet both had some work done this summer to clear up some injuries. He revealed the ailments at Celtics Media Day.

“Xavier had a knee scope at the end of July and is doing great and will be [a] full go for practice tomorrow,” Stevens said. “[He] has been playing for the last couple of weeks, or the last week or so. And then Luke, as many of you know, had the wrist operated on right after the season. Same thing. Cleared to play.”

Tillman joined the Celtics at the 2024 trade deadline in a deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. He didn’t get much run during the regular season, but he played crucial minutes in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.

Meanwhile, Kornet was a consistent face in the deep rotation for the Celtics last year, playing spot minutes when needed.

Stevens praised both players and the team’s training staff for the way they have handled the offseason ailments, stressing that they will be needed for the beginning of the year, especially with Porzingis sidelined.

“Those timelines matched up well with the start of the season, obviously, with some big depth issues potentially,” said Stevens. “So, we're fortunate, and our training staff and those guys, with the effort they put in to get back, have both done a really good job of building it up so that they're ready to go. And we need them to be ready to go tomorrow.”

Tillman, Kornet, and Queta all earned new contracts with the Celtics this summer and will be essential pieces of the puzzle as they navigate life without the Latvian star in the first few months of their upcoming campaign.