Kristaps Porzingis injury status: Celtics star leaves game midway through second quarter

Porzingis left Game 1 between the Celtics and the Knicks with a non-COVID illness and is questionable to return.

BOSTON — Kristaps Porzingis left Monday’s game between the Celtics and the Knicks midway through the second quarter with what the Celtics have since reported is a non-COVID illness. He is officially listed as questionable to return.

Porzingis played 14 minutes up until that point, missing all four of his shot attempts and grabbing 4 rebounds. The Latvian center was not on the injury report ahead of Game 1, but headed to the locker room in the second quarter.

At halftime, Porzingis took the floor momentarily before returning to the locker room before the third quarter began.

Al Horford started in Porzingis’s place to begin the third quarter, and the Celtics officially listed Porzingis as questionable to return shortly after.

The Celtics relied on both Horford and backup center Luke Kornet in the first half of Monday’s series opener. Kornet had a plus/minus of +12 in his 8 first-half minutes, grabbing 3 rebounds and scoring 4 points.

Kristaps Porzingis dealt with an unknown illness earlier this season

Porzingis has yet to miss a game this postseason, after he was available for just six games last playoff run.

He averaged 19.5 points per game on 48.3% shooting in 42 games this season, and dealt with an upper respiratory illness from late February to mid-March that kept him out of 11 games.

It’s unclear if this illness is connected to the sickness he dealt with earlier this Spring. On March 10th, he tweeted: “I have been dealing with some viral illness that we haven’t been able to fully identify yet. I am recovering and getting better. But still working my way back to full strenght to help this team. Thanks for support and I’m hoping for a healthy return soon.”