{"id":115347,"date":"2025-09-03T09:44:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/115347\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T09:44:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:44:23","slug":"kristaps-porzingis-offers-advice-to-celtics-following-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/115347\/","title":{"rendered":"Kristaps Porzingis Offers Advice to Celtics Following Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the start of the NBA offseason, the Boston Celtics<\/a> did the expected and moved on from Kristaps Porzingis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Latvian big man ended up in a trade, which sent him to the Atlanta Hawks for the 2025-2026 season. With Porzingis out of the picture, Neemias Queta<\/a> will get a chance to make a bigger impact for the Cs during a season where there is slightly less pressure to make a title run.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, Porzingis hasn\u2019t done too much analysis on the Celtics\u2019 depth chart. So, when he was asked about his potential replacement in Boston, he couldn\u2019t co-sign for Queta becoming a starter.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood question,\u201d he told reporters at EuroBasket.<\/p>\n

\"Kristaps<\/p>\n

May 14, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) reacts prior to game five of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs against the New York Knicks at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images \/ Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWho else is there? I don\u2019t know. I haven\u2019t thought about their roster, honestly, too deep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porzingis didn\u2019t think much about Queta\u2019s status as a starter, but he\u2019s seen a lot of improvement from the 26-year-old over the last couple of seasons. Therefore, a larger role, Porzingis can co-sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeemi has been getting better each year, and Coach Mazzulla has been pretty tough on him,\u201d Porzingis added. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that he\u2019s getting to a point where he deserves some real minutes, some real rotation minutes. He\u2019s been putting in the work, and you can see how he\u2019s playing now in the tournament. I\u2019m happy for Neemi. He\u2019s a great, great dude, really cool person, and puts in the time, puts in the work. I\u2019ll be happy to see him getting a lot more minutes this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queta has been in the NBA since 2021. He is a former second-round pick out of Utah State. <\/p>\n

In three NCAA seasons, Queta was a full-time starter. He was productive by averaging 13 points, nine rebounds, and two assists, while making 59 percent of his shots from the field. <\/p>\n

\"Neemias<\/p>\n

Apr 2, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) drives to the basket between Boston Celtics forward Torrey Craig (12) and center Neemias Queta (88) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images \/ Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

He was selected 39th overall by the Sacramento Kings after his junior year. <\/p>\n

After playing in just 20 games with the Kings across two seasons, Queta joined the Celtics on a two-way contract two Septembers ago. During the 2023-2024 championship run, Queta averaged just 11.9 minutes of action in 28 games. He didn\u2019t have a role in the postseason.<\/p>\n

Last year, Queta\u2019s role increased slightly. He made 62 appearances during the regular season, seeing the court for an average of 13.9 minutes per game. He posted averages of 5 points and 3.8 rebounds. <\/p>\n

Queta could enter training camp as the Celtics\u2019 projected starter. The team also has Luka Garza, Xavier Tillman, and Chris Boucher on board. <\/p>\n

The veteran\u2019s progress will have to show during the upcoming preseason, but the EuroBasket run has been promising so far. Queta has averaged 15 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2 blocks in four games while playing for Portugal on the Euro stage. <\/p>\n

More Fastbreak on SI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the start of the NBA offseason, the Boston Celtics did the expected and moved on from Kristaps…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-115347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}