Kristaps Porzingis isn't expected to miss much time with his calf injury but the Boston Celtics should be extremely cautious with their approach.
Through nearly the first 20 games of the season, the Boston Celtics have been the best team in the NBA. Certainly, they've been the class of the Eastern Conference. They have a top-10 offense, defense, and the No. 1 net rating in the league. They also happen to have arguably the best core four players in the league with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday.
In fact, you can say that even though the Celtics have raced off to a 13-4 start to the season they're still just beginning to scratch the surface of the team they can be this season. That's how talented they are. However, all that goes out the door the second an injury decimates them, which is why they should be operating under the utmost care when dealing with nagging injuries.
They have their first challenge in navigating that as Kristaps has been diagnosed with a calf strain. He's expected to miss a few games before he's reevaluated in a week. That means that Kristaps is expected to miss at least a week and you can probably expected another few days of ramp up before a possible return.
That means a fair timeline for a posisbel return falls betwwen 10-14 days. Abnd that's assuming he heals properly.
The Boston Celtics need to play it safe with Kristaps Porzingis
In the first game without Kristaps in the lineup, the Celtics managed just fine. The Celtics held off what was a second-half surge from the Atlanta Hawks to win by 10 points. However, you can't help but wonder how big of an impact Kristaps' absence is going to make on the team over the course of a few games if that's the current timeline for him.
This is the type of injury that the Celtics likely need to play it safe with. There's no need to rush Kristaps back from a calf strain, especially if there's a small chance that he could end up re-aggravating the injury. Boston has proven it has enough top-level talent to survive without Kristaps in the regular season.
What the Celtics need more than the top seed in the conference is to enter the postseason healthy. And after the depth that it's lost. I don't think anyone believes that Boston will be able to win a championship this season without Kristaps in the lineup.
Kristaps gives something opposite of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum that they haven't had ever. He gives the team a presence in the frontcourt that the team hasn't had since the days of Kevin Garnett.
The last thing the Celtics need is Kristaps injuring himself further while attempting to come back sooner. Boston is in a good place. It's perfectly fine for them to take it easy as they manage their way back to health.