BOSTON — On the night he was traded — finally — to the Celtics, Kristaps Porzingis was just as clueless, just as uncertain about what was happening as the rest of the basketball world.
So, he went to sleep.
Porzingis was back home in Latvia last Wednesday, when reports of a three-team trade that sent him to the Celtics and Malcolm Brogdon to the Clippers seemed to be set in stone. But then, suddenly, as he was about to go to bed, Porzingis saw the news that the trade had broken down.
“So that kept me up for a little bit longer,” Porzingis said.
But by 4 a.m. local time, Porzingis was done waiting. He finally went to bed, unsure of what team he’d be on when he woke up.
“I was like, OK, I’ll go to sleep and see what happens,’ ” Porzingis recalled. “Wake up in the morning, I saw that it happened, the trade happened, and I was just extremely excited, and extremely happy.”
The deal, of course, was finally agreed upon at midnight in Boston. It sent cornerstone Marcus Smart to the Grizzlies in a franchise-altering move that the Celtics view as a pathway to the championship that has proved elusive to them over the last handful of years.
Porzingis understands the stakes involved with this trade and is clearly motivated after being sought after as the missing piece to the puzzle.
“The most exciting feeling that you can get,” Porzingis said. “The idea of that, that’s why it made it super easy and made it my complete favorite option was to come here to Boston. That fire that I got from that idea is going to gas me up for the rest of the summer.”
Over his first eight seasons since being drafted No. 4 overall by the Knicks in 2015, Porzingis has barely experienced the playoffs. He’s played in 10 career postseason games — with the Mavericks in 2020 and 2021 — and hasn’t advanced past the first round. The Celtics, as likely among the championship favorites, easily present the best opportunity of Porzingis’ career to go deep in the playoffs. He’s certainly excited for that.
But there is certainly an element of risk at play. The Celtics love the way Porzingis balances their roster alongside Robert Williams and Al Horford, but he’s an unproven playoff performer. And in adding him, they lost one of their toughest, playoff-proven players in Smart. Even Porzingis acknowledged uncertainty when it comes to the playoffs.
“I don’t know if I’ll be ready. You know? Who knows?” Porzingis said. “But I’m gonna do everything I can to help this team. … Yeah, I just have a taste of it, right? I have a taste of it and I know what it’s like. And the first playoff series was really good, just didn’t have luck. And the second one was, it was a different style, a different kind.
“And each series is completely different, so I’m gonna have to be ready for any kind of scenario. And as the year goes along, we’re gonna, in the regular season, we’re going to find that rhythm. We’re going to find that chemistry and that’s gonna carry us into the playoffs.”
Porzingis is coming off arguably his best career season with the Wizards, for whom he scored 23.2 points per game on 38.5% 3-point shooting while emerging as one of the top pick-and-roll defenders in the league. After suffering through a litany of injuries throughout his career, Porzingis — who turns 28 in August — is in his prime. Brad Stevens and the Celtics saw the 7-foot-3 big man as a player whose game is continuing to ascend, and that’s why they acquired him.
Porzingis also believes he’s peaking and there’s another level of his game to be reached.
“I think these are the best years for a basketball player,” Porzingis said. “You are physically there and mentally, you are getting to a different level. I think the work paid off for me. I looked at my game, I looked at how I could be more efficient and just really analyzed myself and it paid off last season, all the work I put in off the court to stay healthy. My body is maturing and getting to that age helped and I believe I have some great, high-level years ahead of me.”
Unlike his previous homes, the Celtics won’t be asking Porzingis to take on a heavy burden. He wants to make life easier for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla sees Porzingis easing the load on Williams and Horford, too. After getting stagnant offensively late last season, the Celtics think Porzingis can add a different dimension with his ability to play out of the post, his floor-spacing capabilities and giving them even more options to use double-big lineups.
Porzingis’ eyes lit up when he was asked how the presence of Tatum and Brown can help unlock him, too.
“It will make it much easier,” Porzingis said. “The same way last year playing with Brad (Beal) and Kuz (Kyle Kuzma), they helped me and the same way Jayson and Jaylen, they’re super high-level guys. They’re going to pretty much have the whole team, the opposite team, all of their attention is going to be on them. That might make me offensively much more open and I look forward to hopefully doing the same back to them and drawing some attention.”
The Celtics are Porzingis’ fourth team since being drafted as a hyped prospect in 2015. It has been far from easy for him in his first eight seasons, with hard lessons and countless injuries endured. But he comes with plenty of experience and perspective.
As a 20-year-old in 2015, Porzingis was thrown straight into the fire of the pressure and expectations of New York, where he was hoped to be the next Knicks great. It didn’t go as planned, and he only played three seasons for them. But he’s hopeful that difficult experience will be a benefit to him as he joins a championship contender in another city that expects greatness.
“I got drafted to one of the biggest stages, if not the biggest, and had to learn a lot quickly,” Porzingis said. “It prepared me for anything, almost, in the league. And now getting traded to Boston, it kind of made me realize how much I missed being on a big stage. And that’s not — Dallas was great, of course, and Washington was great also — but I feel like this is a different level of excitement.”
