Deal or No Deal: Kristaps Porzingis

Welcome back to the Deal or No Deal series where we break down if the Celtics should bring back a certain player for the 2025-26 NBA season. If a player is under “Deal” then the player should not be brought back. If “No Deal” then the player should be brought back.

The next player is Kristaps Porzingis. In 42 games this season, Porzingis put up 19.5 PPG, 6.8 REB, and 2.1 AST on 48% shooting from the field, 41% from three, and 81% from the free throw line.

Coming off the Celtics championship run where he only played in seven playoff games due to injuries, Porzingis was set to miss the start of the 2025 season recovering from the injury he sustained in the NBA Finals. When he did come back on November 25th against the Clippers, everyone was excited to see how Boston would look again as a fully functioning unit.

This unit did not last long. Porzingis would be ruled out with an illness on February 28th that would result in him missing the next seven games in March. We later learned that this viral illness and the post viral syndrome that followed would affect his play to a point that he couldn’t be on the court for more than two minutes without struggling to breathe in the Celtics second round playoff series against the New York Knicks.

Kristaps Porzingis is a very contentious topic when it comes to Celtics fans depending on who you ask but most people will tell you this season was disappointing to say the least. The lack of impact on the court in the playoffs started to turn people sour, but no one was more frustrated with his play than Kristaps himself.

In his exit interview following the Celtics loss in Game 6, Porzingis was asked how difficult the last few months have been for him. He said, “As frustrating as you can imagine. Just to not be able to help this team more. Especially with JT going out, just not being too much of a help just hurts deep inside.”

In Brad Stevens’ end of season interview he echoed a similar statement when asked about Porzingis’ illness, saying, “I don’t think anybody was more frustrated than him… I thought he had really turned a corner there towards the end of the regular season when we went to Madison Square Garden and even in the first round and then for whatever reason, he just didn’t feel as good there in the Knicks series and never felt great.”

When it comes to thinking of trades for Kristaps Porzingis this summer, there are a couple of different variables the Celtics are going to have to account for. The first is health. Porzingis has a reputation of being injury prone throughout his entire career and I’m sure opposing teams will wonder how many games they’re actually going to get out of him.

The second thing is his contract. Porzingis is projected to make a little over $30 million next year and with the Celtics being in the second apron, they have to find a team that has enough pieces to match the salary. According to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, the Warriors are interested in a possible Porzingis trade as they have liked the idea of him since 2023.

The Warriors lack of assets means the backbone of a Porzingis to Golden State trade would most likely have to include Moses Moody, Buddy Hield, and one of Trayce Jackson-Davis or Gui Santos to make the money work plus maybe a draft pick. Are the Warriors willing to blow up a lot of their depth for a guy in Porzingis that isn’t the most reliable?

After laying out the trade parameters, is there a world where Porzingis can remain on the Celtics next season? Yes. Porzingis is going into the final year of his two-year, $60 million extension that Boston gave him when they first traded for him and will be an unrestricted free agent in the 2026 offseason. Could Brad Stevens and Celtics management just let Porzingis play out his final season in Boston and let him leave for nothing if the trade packages are not desirable enough?

Verdict: Deal

As much as I am a fan of Kristaps Porzingis and will always cherish his Game 1 performance in the 2024 Finals, I don’t see a world where he is on the Celtics to start next season. Although his value is at an all-time low, a lot of teams in the NBA are looking for center depth, specifically in the Western Conference. The aforementioned Warriors, Lakers, Suns, and many more are looking for a big man out west, so I feel confident that Brad Stevens will be able to find a move that can help the Celtics moving forward.

Boston is also focusing on shedding salary and out of their top-five paid players on the team, Porzingis is the one that has produced the least in the last two seasons and it makes the most sense to move off of him. This also opens the door for the Celtics to potentially bring back Al Horford and Luke Kornet who are both free agents this offseason.