How Charles Barkley Views Celtics Trading For Kristaps Porzingis

Charles Barkley had absolutely no issue trashing the Boston Celtics for their Game 7 clunker in this year’s Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat.

But with some time to cool off, the Hall of Famer viewed Boston’s biggest move of the offseason more positively as it tries to get over the final hump to capture an NBA title.

The Celtics shook up the identity of their team by shipping Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies in a three-team trade that landed Kristaps Porzingis with Boston. The Celtics also sent Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala to the Washington Wizards.

Porzingis certainly comes to the Celtics with question marks, but Barkley recently gave his stamp of approval on the deal while appearing on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.”

“I think it’s worth the gamble,” Barkley told Simmons, as transcribed by Sports Illustrated’s Bobby Krivitsky. “He doesn’t have to be your best player. He doesn’t have to be your second-best player.”

Porzingis turned in a career season during the 2022-23 campaign with the Washington Wizards, notching 23.2 points per game on 49.8% shooting from the field. He figures to be able to improve his efficiency with defenses having to pay more attention to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

But the durability of the 7-foot-3, 240-pound always is a cause for concern and it has already become a factor before he has even put on the Celtics uniform. Porizingis is sitting out the FIBA World Cup as he recovers from plantar fasciitis.

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens believes Porzingis will be ready for the start of training camp, but it doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence that Porzingis is starting off his Celtics tenure in this fashion after being plagued by injuries throughout his career.

The foot injury could just be a minor speed bump before the season gets going, but the Celtics ultimately reaching their ceiling during the upcoming season will depend a lot on what they get out of Porzingis.