Kristaps Porzingis Reportedly Traded to Hawks in 3-Team Deal with Celtics, Nets
As the Boston Celtics face an uncertain future in the wake of Jayson Tatum's injury and new ownership coming in, they are shedding some payroll by trading Kristaps Porziņģis.
Per ESPN's Shams Charania, the Celtics are trading the veteran big man to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a three-team deal that also includes the Brooklyn Nets. The Celtics will receive Georges Niang and a second-round pick in a deal that was clearly designed to free Boston from the punitive second apron.
There are plenty of big-picture questions going forward for the Celtics because of their growing payroll and luxury-tax bill with a new ownership group lined up to take over when the league approves the sale.
One of the questions was answered on Monday when the Celtics agreed to trade Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Anfernee Simons and two second-round draft picks.
Everything about Boston's short-term future was thrown into a state of flux when Tatum ruptured his Achilles in Game 4 against the New York Knicks. Even though there is no official recovery timetable for his return, it would be a surprise if he plays during the 2025-26 season.
There was still plenty of talent on the Celtics roster for them to be a good team next season if they brought everyone back, but the finances left everything up in the air because there's no indication at this point how the new ownership group plans to operate.
Porziņģis stood out as an obvious trade candidate because next season is the final year of his current contract. A $30.7 million expiring salary for a good player still in the prime of his career figured to have a lot of value on the trade market.
Questions about Porziņģis' durability will continue to be a concern. He only played 42 games last season and was severely limited in the postseason due to an illness from February that lingered for the next three months.
After the Celtics were eliminated by the Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Porziņģis admitted he was compromised by the illness and had no answers about what the exact problem was:
"I’m not sure. I mean, doctors are trying to help as much as possible. It was just some lingering fatigue, some effects. It was just extremely weird, and many symptoms that were kind of super weird. So I think nobody has a clear answer. I’ll see how I go from here. Maybe I do some extra testing and some extra stuff and see if we find something. If not, maybe just a reset. Reset for my whole system and that will give my energy levels hopefully back up."
When Porziņģis does play, he is an impact player. The 29-year-old averaged 19.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in 99 starts during his two seasons with the Celtics. He shot 50.2 percent overall and 39.2 percent from three-point range.
There is certainly risk for the Hawks in making this move due to Porziņģis' durability questions, but the upside is so high that he can be a difference-maker next season. He'll be a solid complementary piece alongside Trae Young, Jalen Johnson and Zaccharie Risacher.
