Kristaps Porzingis Recovering Well From Surgery but No Timeline for Return

BOSTON — Brad Stevens said the Celtics have been encouraged by Kristaps Porzingis’ recovery from offseason leg surgery, and even surprised by his progression from his torn medial retinaculum in Game 2 of the Finals. Porzingis told ESPN that he expects to return in December, in line with the team’s 5-6 month recovery announcement in June. Due to the rare nature of the injury, Stevens declined to place a timeline on it on Tuesday.

“(Porzingis) seems to be recovering well,” Stevens said. “He’s very optimistic … as far as how he feels and the progress that he’s made, we’re very pleased with where he is and maybe a little surprised.”

Luke Kornet (wrist) and Xavier Tillman Sr. (knee) also underwent procedures following the Finals. Kornet suffered a wrist sprain during the east finals against Indiana and Tillman dealt with knee swelling between his time in Memphis and Boston last year. They’re ready to begin training camp on Wednesday.

“The plan is to continue to create an environment, understanding guys work to be healthy, rely on our training staff and the work they put into that,” Joe Mazzulla said. “When you think about Celtics basketball, we shouldn’t miss a beat. So I think that’s a strength of our team ever since I’ve been here is regardless of who’s in, who’s out, we feel like we have an opportunity to win. We all should be getting better and have an understanding that whoever’s in, we’re competing to win and we have a chance to win.”

Al Horford, Kornet, Tillman and Neemias Queta will fill the center depth behind Porzingis to begin the season following the latter three’s agreements to return to Boston in free agency. Horford said he’s building toward being able to carry the extra responsibility that they’ll all handle in his absence, and that he’s getting there. Kornet got on the court over the past week and called his recovery from surgery straightforward. He’s focused on finishing more aggressively and some points of improvement defensively entering 2025, his fifth season in Boston.

For Porzingis, who always wants to return on the early side, he’ll balance ensuring he’s fully prepared to step into the lineup without rust when that happens. He said past experiences with injury, including returning from missing two rounds of the playoffs last year before playing Game 1 of the Finals, will prepare him to enter the lineup without much time needed to acclimate. The regular season will allow him to stay patient in the meantime. Over the past week, he progressed to running, light contact, regular shooting and recovered well from his last workout.

“I was able to start doing more in August,” Porzingis said. “Now it’s the end of September, I’ve already been able to do a good amount of stuff, feeling pretty good and looking forward to keep making the progress at this rate and hopefully be out there with the guys as soon as possible … the energy I’m feeling from the doctors, the surgeon, the medical staff is not to rush anything. For myself, if you asked me and I had to do my own protocol, I’d probably go quicker. But that’s a good sign, I’m feeling really good, my ankle’s feeling really good and the quicker, or the sooner I get the green light to do more and more stuff, I’ll be happy and I’m sure I’m gonna be more than 100% healthy before each stage that’s coming up.”