One day after his Celtics tenure ended, Kristaps Porzingis expressed his appreciation for Boston.
The fan-favorite center reflected on his two-year Celtics run in a social media post Wednesday morning. The team reached an agreement Tuesday to trade him to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a three-team deal.
“Boston will always be special in my heart,” Porzingis wrote on X. “Huge thank you to the organization, coaches, staff, my teammates and the fans! Class organization. Forever grateful.”
Though injuries and illness forced him to miss 65 games over his two Celtics seasons and limited his impact in each of the last two postseasons, Porzingis was a game-changing player for Boston when healthy. He averaged 19.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game over his 99 regular-season appearances with the franchise and developed a strong connection with the Celtics fanbase.
Porzingis achieved cult-hero status when he returned from a lower leg injury to deliver a pair of uber-impactful performances in the 2024 NBA Finals, and he received raucous ovations from the TD Garden crowd throughout the 2024-25 campaign.
Twice late in the season, he left the court bloodied and smiling after blows to the face, only to return minutes later after being stitched up in the training room. The fans loved it.
“I love my WWE moments, for sure,” Porzingis said taking an elbow to the forehead from Orlando’s Goga Bitadze in the first round of the playoffs. “It just happens in the game, you know? And then you know me, like, I always love engaging with the crowd. And I already knew, like getting hit again, blood again, like the crowd was going to just, you know, go with it. So it was cool. It was fun.”
Recurring symptoms from a viral illness neutered Porzingis’ impact in Boston’s second-round series; he averaged just 15.5 minutes per game against the New York Knicks, shot the ball poorly and had difficulty breathing. By trading him for veteran forward Georges Niang and a second-round draft pick, the Celtics saved $22.5 million in salary for the upcoming season.
Boston also traded starting guard Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers earlier in the week for guard Anfernee Simons and two second-rounders. The deals radically reshaped the Celtics’ championship-winning core — and almost certainly lowered their 2025-26 ceiling, especially with superstar Jayson Tatum set to miss much of the season following Achilles surgery — but allowed them to escape the second apron of the NBA’s luxury tax, saving them hundreds of millions of dollars and opening new avenues for player acquisition.