Kristaps Porzingis’ Latest Injury Update Good News For Celtics

It’s been like pulling teeth trying to get a definitive timeline in place for Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis, but we’re starting to get a clearer idea of when he could potentially return from injury.

It isn’t perfect by any stretch, but it’s at least something.

Shams Charania of The Athletic provided some insight on FanDuel’s “Run It Back” show Wednesday, giving us the most conclusive timeline for Porzingis’ injury to this point.

“Kristaps Porzingis has a right soleus strain, so this is a calf strain. It’s all about the severity of the strain,” Charania said, per social media video. “I’m told this is going to be treated like a week-to-week injury, could be one or two weeks for Kristaps Porzingis, could be even longer than that based on his rehab.”

Charania said the expectation is that Porzingis could return somewhere around the start of the Eastern Conference finals, should the Celtics advance that far without him. The NBA should kick off its conference finals series around May 21, which would give the 29-year-old three weeks to rehab.

Porzingis suffered a calf strain earlier this season, which led to a four-game absence in which the Celtics went 3-1. He likely could have returned sooner, but Boston kept him out in an abundance of caution before he eventually returned to average 22.9 points and 8.1 rebounds through his next 10 games.

The Celtics were 21-4 without Porzingis throughout the regular season.