Kristaps Porzingis Wants to Be a Bigger Part of a 2025 Celtics Championship

After Kristaps Porziņģis played his first game for the Washington Wizards, dropping 25 points in a win at Indianapolis, he, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. and Wizards GM Tommy Sheppard gathered for a dinner. Sheppard brought a note pad. He wanted to learn what Porziņģis needed, how they could feature him more prominently and left learning how important basketball and his native Latvia were for Porziņģis.

They thought Porziņģis was going to play for Washington for a long time. Porziņģis began to think so too.

“Just a conversation about life,” Sheppard remembered. “I don’t know if people really realize how incredibly competitive he is … check our record against Dallas after he got traded to us. He never said a word, didn’t point at the bench, didn’t grandstand, but he put it on those cats …  he loves certain kinds of foods … and how proud he is of what his country was able to accomplish (in basketball).” 

A surprise trade with Dallas reunited Sheppard with the player he met as a teenager in Sevilla. The prospect he only saw Victor Wembanyama compare to since. Sheppard wouldn’t consider trading him, even after another difficult start for the Wizards in 2022-23. He didn’t see himself getting fired either. So when the Boston Celtics reached out at the 2023 trade deadline inquiring about their star center — he declined.

After seeing Washington deal him that summer, Sheppard watched the 2024 Finals torn. It featured Porziņģis on the Celtics side, while Daniel Gafford and Spencer Dinwiddie competed for Dallas. Latvia, Sheppard and former Wizards teammates rejoiced when Porziņģis lifted the championship trophy to finish his first Boston season. But surgery loomed after Porziņģis turned his ankle in Game 2, another summer with the national team would be scrapped and even after the bubbles dried, the confetti flew away from Boston’s streets and more time in the rehab room loomed, those around Porziņģis could sense what drove him into this following season.

He was a champion. But now, he wants to be a larger part of the title chase than he was last year due to injuries.

“I think this year, he’s more motivated to be ready for the playoffs, because he feels a little bit the job is not done yet for him,” trainer and friend Žanis Peiners told CLNS Media.

Playing through the pain.

If you said, without context, when Porziņģis arrived in Boston that he would play 57 games in his first season, miss all but seven playoff games, then sit out the first 17 games of the following year, the trade would’ve sounded like a failure. It was a bold and risky one that combined with a Grizzlies trade for fan favorite Marcus Smart. Porziņģis knew how important Smart was to the Boston fan base, and when the Celtics possibility emerged, he was torn. He loved playing for the Wizards, playing the best basketball of his career. But he took a leap.

“I was like, ‘wow, let’s do it,'” Peiners said.

“There were some other options too, like bigger money somewhere and there were some advantages in other places, but it was Boston. I think it was an obvious choice, to be honest, and when they won the championship, now it looks even more obvious, but at that point, of course, he might have a little bit of (hesitation), where he was traded once and (a) second time and then you  don’t want to change your team every year — and also Boston is like huge stage. If it’s not gonna work well, you’ll (face) a lot of pressure, all that stuff, but still, he was ready for the challenge, and I think from the first day he liked Boston. Boston fans like him. He’s so open, smiling and all those things, and I didn’t see him acting like this on any other team.”

His NBA Finals Game 1 comeback from a calf injury featured the iconic performance of the Celtics’ playoff run, 11 points in seven minutes that blew his former Mavs away in the opener. Porziņģis fought through a torn retinaculum in his ankle he suffered in Game 2 to close out the series in five at home. Friends still don’t know how he did it.

How could I? Porziņģis said on the trophy stage after, asked why he didn’t sit out.

His agent Daniel Rohme remembered nobody having any way to keep Porziņģis out of Game 5, because it was his dream. A New Jersey native, Rohme called it Porziņģis’  Willis Reed moment.

But surgery followed. He underwent the procedure, which was the only way to recover from his ailment, despite it costing him a chance to help Latvia qualify for its first ever Olympics. He’d also miss as far into the next season as January.

“He wanted to play, he wanted to participate badly and, as we see probably, he didn’t hurt himself more with that game,” Peiners said. “But still it was pretty crazy that he played. You’ve probably never seen him, his feet. I didn’t see any picture posted anywhere, but the surgery and the scar … it’s huge. It looks like he had leg (transplant) or something like that. It’s not like some surgery, like an easy one. It’s serious surgery and he somehow played in the Finals with that. It’s crazy to me.”

The Celtics, Porziņģis and Peiners braced for a challenging recovery. They surprisingly saw a straightforward one. Boston assistant DJ MacLeay was shocked to see how good Porziņģis looked during his visit to Latvia, but the Celtics stressed taking things slow.

Porziņģis only did light shooting without jumping while spending time at home, then ramped up when he returned to Boston without any setbacks. Peiners never heard reports of pain or discomfort. When Brad Stevens spoke at training camp, he declined to offer a timeline, but said the Celtics were pleased and even surprised by how rapidly his recovery progressed.

The team activated him for a practice with the Maine Celtics, who often visited Boston’s facility for workouts this year, with some help from Xavier Tillman Sr., who saw Porziņģis looking like himself less than three weeks into November. On November 25, at least one week before optimistic timelines, Porziņģis shocked many by returning to the lineup, scoring 16 points in 22 minutes while shooting 6-for-12. He was back.

“Overall it was a long one and serious surgery,” Peiners said. “But, as I understand, it’s in the past, everything is well with that.” 

Winter struggles.

Porziņģis put the early struggles for the Celtics’ starting lineup when they reunited into December on himself. Boston began playing its worst basketball since this roster came together. Shooting luck drastically shifted against the Celtics, perhaps due to Porziņģis’ drop defense. He struggled to shoot the three, motioning to his wrist after finishing 34.9% from three through his first 15 games back. An ankle turn, back-to-back rest nights and a last-minute illness scratch at the Knicks in February cost him nine games and added stops-and-starts to his recovery.

From Latvia, shooting coach Toms Jēkabsons still watches Porziņģis’ ups-and-downs. One bad night won’t prompt him to send a text. He needs to see a four-game slump form to reach out with analysis or video. It often relates to Porziņģis’ follow-through. He sent him #HoldYourFollowThrough late in this season, but the wrist issue sounded familiar to Jēkabsons, who helped Porziņģis alter his shot in 2022 after the his trade to Washington.

“So basically he has some inflammation in the wrist, and it was actually because of how he positioned his hands on a ball,” Jēkabsons said. “I didn’t put like a very huge emphasis on that, but he actually changed it. In the (last) two seasons, he started to shoot a little bit more in that natural way…when you put your hand under the ball completely straight under the ball in the middle … it’s actually very unnatural motion for humans…he changed a little bit, his position on the hand, and sometimes, still, he has some inflammation issues because it was years when he did it the wrong way. So it’s still some pain sometimes as far as I know, but it’s not that crazy as it used to be.”

Repeated falls also contributed to the issue, Peiners said, as Porziņģis stressed needing to strengthen his wrist to return to form. He did, finishing the season with a career-high 41.2% mark from deep. But as shots fell from far beyond the rim, a debate raging around Porziņģis since those Wizards days returned to the forefront over how far he stands behind the three-point line when he shoots his threes.

Former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver, who called Porziņģis the most accepting player he ever worked with in absorbing his analytic suggestions, still becomes irked when he sees Porziņģis try a deep three and misses. When he looks into the numbers, though, and sees he’s posting-up as often as ever, then he relents. Against the Knicks earlier this month, Porziņģis fell backward as he launched a 30-foot three near the logo over Jalen Brunson that splashed through the net for his eighth three and the win.

Smiling, with stitches from a cut on his nose and a bruise under his eye from a hit he took against the Suns in the last game, Porziņģis defended the deep threes.

He embraced analytics during his Wizards days alongside Peiners, who used numbers to train him. Oliver said Porziņģis became the first player in Washington to approach him with a question about his shot quality after a film session where coaches criticized a 12-13 footer he took. Peiners and Porziņģis also disagreed, but they settled on what was more comfortable for Porziņģis and focused on reducing how often he dribbles.

“There’s a correlation between me shooting, because I tried to see if my efficiency goes up the closer I get to the three-point line,” Porziņģis said. “But it really doesn’t. I don’t know why, I’m just comfortable shooting a little bit out. It also helps our offense, just stretching the defense out even more. If my efficiency doesn’t change, I just take those deeper ones and I don’t know, maybe just a little bit more comfort knowing the guy’s not going to be able to get there at all for a decent contest, taking my time and just letting it fly.”

Return to the playoffs. 

Porziņģis raised the prospect of deeper threes potentially helping the Celtics against the Orlando Magic in the first round. Closing the season at full health, returning to a +0 net rating with the starters and facing a defense that would try to take the three away, he figured that launching from deeper could help Boston generate more attempts. The Magic’s defense, instead, held him to only two three-point attempts and five points. Their wings challenged him and the post-ups faltered. It recalled the crossroads his career faced upon arrival in Washington that set up the more typical success we’ve watched from him in Boston.

Peiners and Porziņģis began working together around that time, Porziņģis hoping that his friend and former teammate in Latvia would begin training with him after he and his brother Janis worked out together earlier in his career. Peiners stressed that he would need to follow the analytics, and when he realized Oliver, the analytics pioneer, coached in Washington, he suggested that Porziņģis have him make a report on his efficiency. The takeaways were simple, less fading away, less contesting mid-rangers on defense and Oliver’s pet peeve — the long threes.

“He’s a very nice guy. He’s a good guy. One of the things that I liked, though, when he would be shooting is that he had an arrogance about it,” Oliver remembered. “He’s like, ‘you can’t touch me. You’re way too short,'”

“That’s what I wanna hear. That’s what I want you to believe,” Oliver told him. “There are obviously much bigger players in the NBA, but you are about the biggest … they can’t contest your shot.”

Porziņģis has described the benefits of a more condensed game, less erratic movements leading to less injuries. The straight-to-the-point post approach made him one of the most efficient players in the league. Peiners and Jēkabsons saw inefficiency from his off-the-dribble threes, the former stressing a focus on catch-and-shoot and the latter tinkering with what he saw as his feet leaning forward and back leaning backward. He tilted his feet in his uncharacteristic form, which Jēkabsons didn’t touch. He actually encouraged it should Porziņģis did it correctly. Their work followed his season split between Dallas and Washington where he shot 31% from three.

The Celtics have benefitted from the sustainability of that work, as Porziņģis hasn’t been able to have a full summer in years with Jēkabsons and Peiners due to his move to Boston, international competition and this latest injury. They’ve already looked ahead at potential goals for this summer — including adding a step-back three.

“Of course, it’s kind of crazy center players are shooting step backs these days, but it is what it is. It’s a new game in basketball,” Jēkabsons said. “He sometimes makes some shots like that, but I remember I was sending him him DM as well and laughing really, but when he made … (a) bank shot … it was like, ‘yeah, bank shot, but we should try to work on this shot so it could be more consistent’ … (in) our environment I call this a lucky shot.”

A rare illness.

Porziņģis’ comeback reached another halt when sat out the front half of a back-to-back in Toronto with an illness. He played the following night in Detroit before sitting out the start of the team’s seven-game home stand. Peiners saw the schedule as a perfect time to visit Boston, deciding to stay longer than he initially planned to see his friend play every other night. He didn’t end up watching him appear in a single game.

Porziņģis contracted what he later described as an extremely frustrating upper respiratory illness that turned into bronchitis. Doctors struggled to identify exactly what ailed him through the most sick he ever felt in his life. Porziņģis struggled with exhaustion, some days feeling better before he suddenly struggled to get out of bed again. Big crashes followed his workouts.

“At the start, he was like, ‘yeah, I’m good, I’m good. I’m going to the gym, work out. I’ll be back tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow,'” Peiners remembered. “And then, (when) every day he was like this, at one point, it’s like, ‘OK, you’re not good, your voice is not good. Probably, you cannot play because you don’t feel well, maybe you can (make) it more serious.'”

“At that point, doctors were testing him on some more serious viruses, because it was already (one) week.”

Peiners believes Porziņģis likely exacerbated the illness by trying to push through it. Porziņģis promised a return against the Lakers, only to meet exhaustion as he would several times through attempted ramp-ups. After missing the LA game, fatigued by a heavy workouts aimed at attempting to play in the game, he sat out three more. His immune system was down, he said, so they saw he was fighting viruses, he took several tests that came back negative and another longer test that he hadn’t heard about when he last spoke about the experience. More serious illnesses like mononucleosis were ruled out.

“Maybe if he would just sit at home and take some medicine in the first three days he would be back quicker,” Peiners said. “But that’s his style — to fight through every injury and every sickness.”

As social media speculation became too much for him to read quietly. He sent an ominous message during halftime of Celtics-Jazz. I have been dealing with some viral illness that we haven’t been able to fully identify yet, he said. I am recovering and getting better. But still working my way back to full strength to help this team.

Porziņģis, bouncing back quickly again, poured 24 points on the Nets, shooting 8-for-9 and playing the entire fourth quarter — aided by sugar. As far as he’s come with his skills development, his experience in Boston has shifted his focus toward his body. Taking more time off when he doesn’t feel right, spending time on red light therapy, biohacking lessons he’s learned and spending more time with physiotherapists and strength-and-conditioning coaches during the season than on skill development. Jēkabsons thought he might come to Boston to help Porziņģis with his shooting in-season, but they made the decision that his body was most important.

Despite their shared desire to push through injuries, Porziņģis pulled Jaylen Brown aside after their trip to New York earlier this month. He’s become close with Brown in Boston, and realizing he’s also experienced the knee ailment that bothered Brown late in the year, he convinced him to rest the final three games of the regular season with a focus on the big picture. They shared a warrior mentality, but Porziņģis wondered how much the Celtics needed that from him with their seeding locked up long ago.

Porziņģis also told Brown what helped him through his experience. Brown received an injection for his knee, and was ready for Game 1 on Sunday.

“He did the things necessary, I think, to be as healthy and feeling good as possible for this run we’re about to have,” Porziņģis said. “He’s always saying he feels good, but he actually looks good.”

A chance to repeat. 

While Jēkabsons saw how happy Porziņģis was to win the 2024 championship, he knew the competitive side of him would remain motivated to be a bigger part of this postseason run. While he has a ring that he earned, missing 12 playoff games, including two in the Finals, left him hungry for a larger role in this championship.

“What we can prepare is to have a harder run than we had last year,” Porziņģis said. “Last year, we were really dominant. It looked like an easy run for us. Even up until the Finals, everyone was saying they’re not battle tested, we’re gonna see now, and it just went that way all the way through and we won the championship.”

Sheppard, looking at how Boston deploys Porziņģis now, as a stretch five, a disruptive defender and in larger lineups, thinks back to how diminished his value became around the league that the Wizards could acquire him at that time. Since his firing from Washington, he’s further studied how injuries impact the NBA, and he saw even then how much being hurt diminishes players in the eyes of media, fans and even the league.

“I think he really felt strongly that he had a lot more in the tank and I think he saw it in himself that he was ready to take that big role again, get healthy, get his game back to where it was,” Sheppard said. “He was an all-star. He was a top pick …  I think he really felt that, I wouldn’t even call it a burden. I think he was aware of maybe some of the outside noise.” 

He hasn’t spoken to Porziņģis since his firing from the Wizards, but he watched Porziņģis’ introductory Boston press conference and the fact that he thanked Washington for bringing him there still leaves him emotional. Sheppard considers him one of his favorite people across 29 years in the NBA, and he loves watching the relationship that’s built between Porziņģis and the Celtics fans.

Playing through pain endeared him to the Boston crowd, and each return from injury and illness has been paired with a WWE-style entrance to the arena, whereas his setbacks in New York and Dallas drew groans and skepticism about his ability. In Boston, it’s become about how he can complement Jayson Tatum, Brown and a team that doesn’t overly rely on him. Rohme sees him locked in for this playoff run, and after he accomplishes his goal of becoming a bigger part of this run, he wants to deliver the promise he made to Latvia.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to represent my country for a while,” he said. “I always love, so much, playing for the national team. It gives me a burst of energy in the summertime, and to get back with my guys from the national team, it’s just a different atmosphere. I always try to be around the team as much as possible, too, even when I’m hurt. That’s why I’m surprised, a lot of people think I decide not to play sometimes. It’s never happened in my career. I only haven’t played because of some injuries. Hopefully, I’ll have a healthy playoff run now, go into the summer healthy and have a great European Championship with Latvia.”