Porzingis says foot hurts after exercise, but feels confident he will be ready by start of regular season

We wouldn't blame you if you were concerned about what's going on with the Celtics biggest offseason acquisition. Kristaps Porzingis signed a contract extension with Boston in July and promptly got injured in August. At first we were told he wasn't injured. Then he was out for the FIBA World Cup, but should be ready by the start of camp, and now it seems that the regular season opener has become the new target date.

[Porzingis] discussed the injury and his next steps with Sporta Studija (translated through Google).

"The foot hurts after exercise, I feel almost nothing when walking, it's a really funny injury," Porziņgis said of the ailment. "I have an idea what the origin of the injury might be, but it's something that builds up over the course of a career and pops out at one point. It got worse during the training process - when it started to hurt, then I couldn't get rid of the inflammation either."

The Celtics announced that Porzingis would engage in a four-to-six week rehab program and that he is expected to be cleared for training camp. One week later, Porzingis said that he feels good in the early part of his recovery and sound confident that he'll be out there for Boston when the regular season arrives.

"Feelings are good," said Porzingis. "Of course, I am not yet in such a shape that I can play and train fully. But going step by step, everything should be fine by the start of the season."

In Porzingis' eight year career the lone season he's played at least games was his rookie year (72 games). Last season Porzingis played in 65 games, which is the most he's suited up since his second season back in 2016-2017. He parlayed last year's performance into a contract extension with the Celtics. Brad Stevens in his short tenure running Boston's front office hasn't been hesitant to give oft injured bigs multi year contracts with Robert Williams, Danilo Gallinari, and now Porzingis all inking deal with Boston.

Williams has continued to struggle to stay on the court since signing his extension with the Celtics, while Gallinari missed all of his lone season in Boston, before the team shipped Danilo and the second guaranteed year of his deal off to Washington as part of the Kristaps deal.