Kristaps Porzingis Suggested The Hawks May Be A Better Situation For Him Since There Isn't The Same Sort Of Pressure As Playing In Boston
Kevin C. Cox. Getty Images.Now that the dust has settled and former Celtics like Jrue Holiday, Luke Kornet and Kristaps Porzingis are all starting to get acclimated to their new teams/situations, that of course means we're going to start hearing from them about their time in Boston. As a Celtics fan, it's depressing, even though we knew this reality was unavoidable the second everyone signed their massive extensions coming off the 2024 title. We knew that group had a shelf life, and that they were put together for a good time, and not a long time. Thankfully, they made the entire experience worth it by securing that ever elusive 18th championship banner, but that doesn't mean it still isn't annoying as hell that their time together was cut so short. You can understand why it had to happen and still hate it, which is where I think most Cs fans are.
Coming off their disappointing ending to the 2024-25 season, that change was inevitable. I'm a believer in even if Tatum had not gotten hurt against the Knicks and the Celts still lost that series, or really any sort of result outside of a title, that the selling of expensive pieces was coming. The injury is just what made the "reset" or "gap year" an easy decision to make.
Part of those changes was always going to be getting off Porzingis' money. They needed to get under the 2nd apron, weren't going to unload part of their core, which means the money owed to Holiday and Porzingis is where you start. What did we see? We saw the Celts keep their core intact and more off KP/Porzingis to effectively get under the 2nd apron. I don't think those moves themselves surprised anyone who was paying attention, maybe the destination and the return, but not the actual selling of the pieces. I was a bit surprised that Porzingis was effectively a salary dump, but given his health questions, I guess it makes sense. Not having to attach a 1st round pick to get off his deal was the goal, and that's what Brad Stevens was able to do.
Now a member of the Atlanta Hawks, for really the first time we got some insight to how KP reacted to the trade and how he views this new opportunity as a Hawk
A Wemby/KP frontcourt would have been nuts, but in the end, they stole the other Celtics center in Luke Kornet, so KP's line of thinking wasn't too far off in terms of their position of need. Not sure how they were going to come up with the money to make that type of trade work, but the Spurs were commonly mentioned as a potential team for the Celts to trade with heading into the Draft.
That part of his interview was whatever. What stood out more to me was what KP had to say when it came to his fit in Atlanta
Porzingis arrives in Atlanta as part of a retooled core that still includes Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, and Dejounte Murray. While the Celtics carried championship-or-bust expectations in 2024 and 2025, the bar is lower in Atlanta—and that’s something Porzingis actually welcomes.
“I think expectations are high. Atlanta’s been on the edge of the playoffs the last few years, sometimes getting through the first round,” he said. “It’s a great situation for me to come in and contribute. Maybe even better than Boston, where it was championship or bust.”
With less pressure comes more freedom—to lead, to play through mistakes, and to surprise people.
“Here, the pressure isn’t the same—it’s easier to exceed expectations. That’s a better position to be in. It’s in our hands now, and I think we can surprise some people in the East.”
I have to be honest, I don't love those quotes. Especially considering how KP's Celtics tenure ended. I also find them a little confusing, because while he was a Celtic, it felt like KP truly embraced everything that came with it. The connection to the fans, what they were trying to accomplish, the history and the pressure that comes with playing in Boston, all of it.
Before he became a Celtic, that exact quote reflects a lot of what the criticism was around KP as a player. Honestly, it was one of the biggest questions about the entire KP trade in the first place. How would he do in high pressure playoff basketball, considering he had virtually no experience in it, for a team that is in a title or bust window?
Given his injuries, we never really got an answer to that question. He was good to start the 2024 playoffs against MIA before getting hurt, and then didn't do much outside of Game 1 of the 2024 Finals. Don't get me wrong, that performance was legendary and a big part of how that series went, but then you add in his subpar performance against the Magic in 2025 and then the disaster that was the Knicks series due to his illness, and it's fair to say that the entire KP experiment produced 3 or 4 good playoff games. Granted, they won, so it's whatever, but that's the truth.
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Now in a situation where there are different expectations/pressure, hearing KP talk about how this is a better situation for him, even more so than the team he won a title with, I do think is pretty telling. It almost feels like Brad Stevens may have known this about him, decided to roll the dice and hope for the best, got the title, and then got out of the KP business at his first opportunity.
He's not wrong when he basically says things are different when you play for the Boston Celtics. That is correct. The expectations in Boston are unlike the 29 other franchises. They may celebrate division wins, conference wins, IST wins etc. The Celtics? You win a title or you don't. That's all that matters. Not every player is built to handle that type of environment/pressure, and there's nothing wrong with that. It just takes a special type of person/mentality to play and thrive in that organization. The fans care more, the media cares more, that's just part of the gig. Some players thrive in that situation, others not so much.
So, to now hear KP basically admit the lights were too bright for him to some degree is a little jarring, but I also have to disagree when it comes to his new team and the expectations they now face entering the season. While the pressure for the Hawks might not be at the same level as the 2023-25 Celtics, there is absolutely a good amount of pressure on the Hawks to break through and make a deep run, I'd say to the ECF at a minimum. They've largely been discussed as one of the major winners of the summer, given the additions they've made combined with the injured players they'll be getting back, and considering this is a "down" year in the East due to injuries to previous contenders, the Hawks really have no excuse. Will the media crush KP in ATL the same way he was in BOS if he underperforms? Probably not. But this isn't exactly a season where the Hawks have zero expectations of being an elite/competitive team, and everyone can just play for vibes.
Regardless, I'll always be thankful for KP's contributions to the 2024 title. At the end of the day, that team had to win the title, and they did. He had to immediately deliver given who he was traded for that summer, and for stretches, he did.