-
Tim BontempsMar 10, 2025, 09:34 PM ET
- Tim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.
Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis announced on X on Monday that he has been sitting out with what has so far been an unidentified illness.
“I have been dealing with some viral illness that we haven’t been able to fully identify yet,” Porzingis posted on the social media site during Monday’s game between the Celtics and Jazz in Boston. “I am recovering and getting better. But still working my way back to full [strength] to help this team. Thanks for support and [I’m] hoping for a healthy return soon.”
Porzingis hasn’t played since Feb. 26 in Detroit with what the team has described only as a non-COVID illness, with Monday’s game marking the sixth consecutive game that he has sat out.
Editor’s Picks
The 7-foot-2 center is averaging 18.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks for Boston across 32 games this season. He sat out the opening month of the season after undergoing offseason surgery to repair a rare tendon injury in his ankle that he sustained during last season’s NBA Finals.
Boston entered Monday’s game having won 14 of its past 17, and sits in second place in the Eastern Conference standings. Boston will host the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
