Can Celtics Afford Kristaps Porzingis Playing In FIBA World Cup?

The Boston Celtics have firsthand experience of the worst-case scenarios that can come up when an NBA player takes part in FIBA competition.

In August of 2022, the Celtics lost recently acquired forward Danilo Gallinari for the season as he suffered a torn ACL when playing for Team Italy in a FIBA World Cup qualifier. He never ended up playing for Boston, missing the entire 2022-23 season before being traded to the Washington Wizards in a three-team deal.

In an effort to avoid disaster for a second consecutive season, the C’s might want to think about pulling Kristaps Porzingis, the man they acquired in the Gallinari trade, from international competition.

There are “growing concerns” that Porzingis might miss the FIBA World Cup due to injury, according to Rupert Fabig of BIG Deutschland. The injury reportedly has something to do with his foot, with Porzingis, the Celtics and Team Latvia reportedly waiting until “the last moment” to make a decision whether he’ll play or not.

A 7-foot-3 star with foot problems? That’s probably not something to play with.

Porzingis already has an extensive injury history, having missed the entire 2018-19 season with an ACL injury and appearing in 118 of a possible 164 games over the last two seasons. Boston made a large investment into the 28-year-old this offseason, parting ways with franchise icon Marcus Smart to land him in a trade, so watching him potentially play with an injury is something that would surprise.

The Celtics are one of the favorites to win the 2024 NBA Finals, and losing Porzingis would essentially double those odds. This is Boston’s year to get over the hump, so it can’t afford to play games with its new star.