Former Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis may be forced to retire soon as he continues dealing with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a condition that “causes a number of symptoms when you transition from lying down to standing up, such as a fast heart rate, dizziness and fatigue,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Per ESPN’s Shams Charania
and Ohm Youngmisuk, Porzingis “will miss the next two weeks and undergo further evaluations while dealing with a recent illness,” while the Atlanta Hawks “are prioritizing the big man’s health for the rest of the season.” Porzingis and his medical team “found solutions over the summer to manage his health.” Supposedly.
Clearly, the issue is bigger than Porzingis would’ve thought. While he’s guaranteed to miss a few weeks, it’s notable that missing multiple games at a time is still deemed the healthiest path to prolong Porzingis’s career.
We’ve seen this before. The ending to the previous script was a heartbreaker.
Kristaps Porzingis’ Issues Feel Similar to Chris Bosh’s
Many fans are feeling the same familiar and unsettling feeling they had when it became clear Chris Bosh wasn’t going to return to the Miami Heat back in 2016. Bosh had deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in his legs that led to pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in his lungs). That condition ended Bosh’s career, just two years after the “Big Three” era ended with LeBron James returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
There are several valid similarities between the two situations, if not exactly the conditions and their side effects. While Porzingis didn’t play nearly the sizable role for the Celtics that Bosh did for the Heat, his emotional lift to the locker room in playing Game 1, Game 2, and Game 5 in the 2024 NBA Finals was relatively just as important for finishing the job as Bosh’s two-way contributions for the “Heatles” in 2012 and 2013.
Boston rarely had trouble throughout the postseason due to its depth, and mostly played without Porzingis. Bosh was a necessary pillar on two teams that weren’t nearly as deep as the 2023-2024 Celtics and had several six- and seven-game series on their road to the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
On-court value to their teams aside, here’s hoping Porzingis’ extended absences over the past year and a half aren’t tell-tale signs of the beginning of the end, like Bosh’s were throughout the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
It just doesn’t feel that way right now for most NBA fans.
