Center Kristaps Porzingis, who played through a rare left leg injury as the Boston Celtics claimed their record-setting 18th NBA championship, will have surgery “in the coming days” and will miss the Olympics, it was announced Tuesday.
Porzingis suffered a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on June 9. He missed Games 3 and 4, but he returned in Game 5 as the Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks to win the title.
He had hoped to postpone the procedure until after he had competed for the Latvian national team in Paris, but the Celtics said in a statement that the injury “doesn’t allow for consistent play at the level required for Olympic competition.”
A timeline for Porzingis’ return has yet to be determined, but a source told ESPN earlier this month that the recovery process could take a “few months.”
Porzingis, who was acquired by Boston after the Celtics lost in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals to the Miami Heat, averaged 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Celtics during the regular season. He suffered a calf strain in Game 4 of Boston’s first-round series vs. Miami, but returned in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.