Kristaps Porzingis has been out of action for more than 13 months after suffering a torn ACL on Feb. 6, 2018. Since the talented big man went down, he’s been traded from New York to Dallas and many injury updates have emerged, including the fact that Porzingis isn’t going to be returning to game action during the 2018-19 season.
On Tuesday evening, more information emerged and, this time around, it was a positive report from Porzingis himself. In short, he revealed that Wednesday will be the first time he takes part in a “full-on” practice since the injury occurred.
“Today I played three-on-three,” Porzingis told Caron Butler during a televised interview on TNT. “Tomorrow is going to be my first five-on-five practice, full-on, without any restrictions at all. And I’ve been feeling great … I can’t wait.”
Even with the caveat that the Mavs have no incentive to bring Porzingis back in the season’s final month (especially with the team spiraling and in search of extra ping-pong balls), this is fantastic news for all parties involved. Prior to the injury, Porzingis was one of the more intriguing young players in the league and, with that in mind, Dallas invested a great deal in acquiring him from New York.
It remains to be seen as to how effective Porzingis will be upon return but, given that he is now at this stage in his rehabilitation, he’ll have six or seven additional months to progress into game shape before training camp opens for the 2019-20 campaign.
