NBA Rumors: Celtics' Kristaps Porziņģis Plans to Return from Foot Injury vs. Clippers

Kristaps Porziņģis reportedly will make his season debut against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

Porziņģis has yet to play this season after undergoing foot surgery five months ago, following the NBA Finals, to repair a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon.

Porziņģis suffered the injury in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, missed Games 3 and 4 and returned for Game 5, scoring five points in 16 minutes as the Celtics clinched the championship over the Dallas Mavericks.

"I don't care," Porziņģis told ESPN's Tim Bontemps on the night Boston clinched the title regarding his injury. "I will fix it. This is the most important, and after my injury healing, and all that, it's totally worth it."

He added at the time that he knew there was some risk involved.

"Of course," he said. "I think something could have happened, for sure, especially compensating now on the other leg now, which I just came back from. There was definitely some added risk, but I didn't care. I was like, 'I want to give everything I can and then fix it after if I need to.'"

The Celtics almost assuredly will work Porziņģis back into the fold slowly, and can afford to do so. What is alarming for the rest of the NBA is that the Celtics are already 14-3 this season despite being without him for the entire season and without Jaylen Brown for four games and Al Horford for three.

Once he's back to full health, he'll return to the starting lineup as the 5, pushing Horford to the bench and giving the Celtics, yet again, the best starting lineup in the sport alongside Brown, Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.