Watch: Porzingis gets shots during Celtics practice in Abu Dhabi originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Kristaps Porzingis is showing encouraging progress in his injury rehab — even halfway around the world.
The Celtic great who underwent surgery in June to treat a rare leg injurytraveled with the team to Abu Dhabi this week and was seen taking shots during Boston’s practice at Etihad Arena on Thursday.
Porzingis is still a long way from returning to action; The Celtics announced a five-to-six month recovery period in June, while he said recently that he hopes to make his debut in the 2024-25 season sometime in December.
Still, it’s encouraging to see the 7-foot-2 man already on the court putting in some (very light) work just over three months after his surgery.
“I was able to start doing more in August, and now at the end of September I’ve done a good amount of things and felt good,” Porzingis. told reporters last week at Celtics Media Day. “Looking forward to continuing to progress at this rate and hopefully be there with the kids as soon as possible.”
The C’s will look to big men Al Horford, Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman Sr. and possibly Neemias Queta to step up while Porzingis is sidelined. The team went 21-4 in the regular season and 10-2 in the playoffs without Porzingis in 2023-24, so they’ll look to continue that trend in 2024-25.
Game 1 of Celtics-Nuggets in Abu Dhabi is set Friday at 12 pm ET. NBC Sports Boston will broadcast the game live and begin coverage at 11:30 am ET with a special edition of Celtics Pregame Live.
Game 2 will be on Sunday, October 6 at 10 a.m. ET, with pregame coverage beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.
