Kristaps Porzingis has agreed to a two-year, $60 million extension with the Boston Celtics, according to Chris Haynes. Earlier this month, Porzingis picked up his $36 million player option for next season in order to facilitate his trade to the Celtics, and this extension, which kicks in next summer, will keep him in Boston until 2026.
Porzingis was traded from the Washington Wizards to the Celtics in a blockbuster three-team deal that sent Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies and Tyus Jones to the Washington Wizards, in addition to a number of draft picks swapping hands. The big man is coming off a bounce-back season, both from a health and production standpoint. He played 65 games, his most since his second season in the league, and averaged 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks, while shooting 38.5% from 3-point land.
The guard-heavy Celtics needed a major frontcourt addition, both for the present and future given that Al Horford's turned 37 earlier this month and Robert Williams III's injury history. Porzingis' rare ability to protect the rim on one end and space the floor on the other made him a perfect fit for the Celtics. He can also punish switches near the basket, giving the Celtics' offense some much-needed flexibility.
"I said this at the start of the summer: I thought that we needed to balance our roster and make sure that we looked at the best ways to do that," Celtics president Brad Stevens said. "And that meant that we were going to likely lose a really, really, really good player.
"From our standpoint, we just looked at it as, What's our best opportunity to continue to grow and improve as a team? Knowing that sometimes really, really hard decisions have to be made. Like I said, not only adding Kristaps with his skill, his size and the positional versatility, we just had many more numbers and options at the smaller positions than we did at the bigs, especially as we look forward too."
As long as Porzingis stays healthy, he'll have a chance to contend for a title for the first time in his career alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in a reimagined big three. This team, and this trio, will be facing immense pressure right from opening night after a disappointing loss in the Eastern Conference finals at the hands of the eighth-seeded Miami Heat.
"I don't know if I'll be ready. You know? Who knows? But, I'm gonna do everything I can to help this team," Porziņgis said. "I just have a taste of it, right? I have a taste of it and I know what it's like. And the first playoff series were really good, just didn't have luck. And the second one was, it was a different style, a different kind. And each series is completely different, so I'm gonna have to be ready for any kind of scenario."
