Kristaps Porziņģis Says Agreeing to Celtics Trade Was 'Extremely Easy' Decision

Former Washington Wizards center Kristaps Porziņģis has played 10 playoff games in seven NBA seasons.

He's hoping that will change next year, which is why he said it was "extremely easy" to agree to be traded to the Boston Celtics.

"[It was] an opportunity to play for a really good team already and be able to add to that," Porziņģis told reporters Thursday, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps. "And hopefully to help these guys, make their life easier, and being on a high-level organization like Boston, historic franchise, iconic franchise, it made it extremely easy for me to make that decision."

Porziņģis opted in to a $36 million player option with the Wizards in order to facilitate the three-team trade that sent him from Washington to Boston, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2024.

Porziņģis averaged 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 65 games last season as the Wizards missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

It was Porziņģis' best season, offensively, since his 2017-18 All-Star campaign with the New York Knicks. Now he is hoping to use those skills to help Celtics stars like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum rack up points next season.

"I want to come here to make life easier for those guys," Porziņģis said. "Hopefully with my skill set and my talent I can take some pressure off of those guys. And that's it. I come here to try to make this team better. And I'm excited to play with such high-level guys that have been there from year to year and have that experience already. So, I think it can be a great combination."

Porziņģis spent three years with the New York Knicks before missing the 2018-19 season due to an ACL injury. He returned the following year and spent two and a half seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, where he played alongside Luka Dončić, before getting traded to the Wizards.

After getting dealt to the Celtics, Porziņģis said he's back to experiencing the kind of pressure he felt when playing for the Knicks.

"Getting traded to Boston, it kind of made me realize how much I missed being on a big stage," Porziņģis said, per The Athletic's Jared Weiss. "Dallas was great of course, and Washington was great also, but this is a different level of excitement with how good the team is."

Porziņģis, who turns 28 in August, said he believes he's entering his "best years" as a player. He will hope those involve seeing the first second-round series of his career with the Celtics next spring.