Porzingis fully healthy after mystery illness hampered end of Celtics stint

ATLANTA (AP) — Kristaps Porzingis still can't explain the mystery illness that kept sapping his strength during his 2024-25 season with the Boston Celtics.

Porzingis is just glad he's now fully healthy as he prepares to enter his first season with the Atlanta Hawks, who have relied too heavily on Trae Young's scoring and assists in recent seasons.

Porzingis said his participation in the EuroBasket tournament this summer showed him he has fully recovered from the persistent illness.

“I still don’t have an exact answer,” Porzingis said Monday when asked about the illness at the Hawks' media day. “It was lingering. That was the toughest part. Some days it was OK. I’m glad it’s gone now.”

Porzingis said his confidence in his health was restored while playing for the Latvian national team this summer.

“I had the gas tank again,” Porzingis said. “I didn’t have any crashes. ... I'm excited I’m coming into the season healthy.”

The Hawks acquired Porzingis as past of a three-team trade with Boston and Brooklyn on June 24.

The Hawks also added defensive standout Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard in a productive offseason as they look to end a four-year run of settling for the play-in tournament.

The 7-foot-2 Porzingis, who has averaged 19.6 points in nine NBA seasons, is a big reason Atlanta is widely projected to move up in the East. The center has made 36.6% of his 3-point shots in his career, which should open space for Young’s shots and passes.

“Every great team has people that step up when the moment calls,” Porzingis said. “I think this team has the talent, a lot of good young guys. Trae already has good experience and now myself coming into this young group, I think I can just elevate all these young guys and bring even more, like gunpowder, to this team.”

Young was last season's NBA assists leader and led Atlanta with 24.2 points per game. Young now has more help, especially with power forward Jalen Johnson back from a season-ending shoulder injury that required surgery.

Johnson averaged 18.9 points, 10 rebounds and five assists as Young's top scoring complement and now joins Onyeka Okongwu, Porzingis and Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA draft and runner-up in the Rookie of the Year voting, as the top front-line options.

Young and Dyson Daniels, voted the NBA's Most Improved Player last season and the runner-up as top defensive player, return as the starting guards.

There were many questions about heightened expectations on Monday. Coach Quin Snyder and others asked for patience as the new group becomes comfortable with his scheme and their new roles.

“We have to be patient and understand this is a slow burn,” Snyder said before adding “That doesn’t mean we can’t be urgent.”

Clearly no one will be satisfied with another play-in tournament berth.

“When we were healthy we could compete with anybody, especially in the East,” Young said of last season's team. “There’s a lot of teams that can say that every year, so hopefully we have that luck factor this year and if we do I’m very confident in our team.”

Young is entering the final year of a five-year contract he signed in 2021. He has a player option for the 2026-27 season. Asked if he'd like to already have an extension entering this season, Young said “Maybe.”

“I wasn’t stressed,” Young said. “If something happened, it happened. If it didn’t, it didn’t. I’m focused on this team right now. ... Who knows what the future has for me, but right now I’m here in the present.”

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