Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis will make his season debut on Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers, according to ESPN. Porzingis, who had surgery in late June after suffering a rare ankle injury during the 2024 NBA Finals, is officially listed as probable.
Last week, Porzingis practiced with Boston's G League team, the Maine Celtics. The defending champs reportedly had targeted a December return, but in September Porzingis said that he was hoping to come back faster than expected.
The Celtics have gone 14-3 in Porzingis' absence, the second-best record in the NBA. They have the league's No. 3 offense and they rank 10th on defense, and they're coming off a 107-105 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
Porzingis averaged 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 29.6 minutes per game for Boston in 2023-24. His deep shooting range supercharged the Celtics' spacing, and his ability to punish mismatches made them even more difficult to defend. With him back in the lineup, their rim protection should improve, too.
"You've seen it last year," Jayson Tatum told repoters recently. "We're a really good team right now; when we add KP, we're just that much better on both ends of the floor. Our chemistry is there. It's like having a cheat code: a [7-foot-2] guy we can give the ball to on mismatches and watch him go to work."
Al Horford, who has started in Porzingis' place for most of the season but has not played in a back-to-back. Horford is listed as doubtful against the Clippers with a non-COVID illness. (Horford listed as questionable leading up to the Timberwolves game, but ended up playing 33 minutes.)
Reserve center Luke Kornet is also listed as doubtful, due to left hamstring tightness. Even if both Horford and Kornet are out, though, Boston will have depth behind Porzingis: Neemias Queta has given the team good minutes, and Xavier Tillman has been back in the rotation for the last couple of games.
