The Boston Celtics and their fans are learning how quickly fortunes change in the NBA.
The same can be said for the Celtics players themselves. Jayson Tatum was at the peak of his powers in the postseason, and now he won’t touch an NBA court for a calendar year.
Other of Boston’s talented ballers have seen their stock sink rapidly of late, including seven-foot-two center Kristaps Porzingis.
Porzingis was looking like the best version of himself during the last month of the regular season, but an illness caused him to deteriorate physically as the playoffs arrived, making him a near-useless weapon for the Celtics when they needed him the most.
It was a cruel twist of fate for KP, but after two consecutive seasons of poor durability, Porzingis has most Celtics fans calling for his departure, at least according to Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor, who discussed Porzingis during a new episode of The Kevin O’Connor Show.
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“(Porzingis is) the guy every Celtics fan wants to see traded right now after he just completely was a dud in the postseason with this unknown illness,” O’Connor said.
“That makes his value super murky. He’s not a $30.7 million expiring contract that could be a significant contributor … he is a $30.7 million expiring contract, period. That’s Porzingis’s value right now for the Celtics.”
“He is not a significant value guy right now until maybe this summer, (while) playing for Team Latvia, he proves that he’s back healthy, but that’s a long way from now.”
Porzingis, 29, has appeared in 99 out of 164 regular season games (60.4 percent) and 18 out of 30 playoff games (60 percent) for Boston over the last two seasons.
The Unicorn averaged 19.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in 42 regular season games in 2024-25.
Celtics GM Brad Stevens revealed on Monday that Porzingis’s illness is “post-viral syndrome,” something that can linger for months or even years.
However, Stevens also expressed surety that the illness wouldn’t be a problem by the time Porzingis plays for Latvia later in the summer.
Will Stevens have dealt KP by then? It remains to be seen.
If and when Porzingis is traded, he’ll at least have won a championship ring with the team in 2024 that will last forever.
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