For the last couple of months of the regular season, all eyes were glued to Jaylen Brown’s right knee. First, it was a posterior impingement. Then, a bone bruise. His on-court play was clearly taking a hit, yet Brown continued to play through the issue. After the Boston Celtics’ win over the New York Knicks on April 8, Kristaps Porzingis shared his thoughts on the matter.
“He’s a tough dude,” he said via Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog. “He always preaches his warrior mindset. He lives by it. But to what extent do we need that right now? Maybe he needs to take care of it and make sure he’s going to be ready for the most important moment.”
Speculation continued to run rampant for the next couple of days: Would Brown push himself to reach the NBA’s 65-game minimum to qualify for NBA Awards? Would he push himself too hard heading into the playoffs? How serious was the injury? All of this talk came to its head when all of Boston’s top six were listed as out for their game against the Orlando Magic on April 9—except for Brown. He was questionable. But he didn’t end up playing.
Brown sitting out in Orlando meant he would have to play the Celtics’ final two regular-season games against the Charlotte Hornets in order to hit the 65-game mark. Yet, when it came time for it, Brown was the only player who did not play in the first game, and he didn’t suit up for the second, either. He fell short of the 65 games he needed.
Since then, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN revealed that Brown received injections in his knee to help with the ailment, but noted that he would be ready for the beginning of the postseason. “Celtics All-Star forward Jaylen Brown received pain management injections in his troublesome right knee this week in an effort to promote healing before Boston begins its title defense, league sources told ESPN,” she wrote. “Brown is expected to be ready for the start of the Celtics' first-round playoff series either April 19 or 20, sources said.”
Kristaps Porzingis helped give Jaylen Brown important perspective on injury recovery
And after Celtics practice on Wednesday, Porzingis provided another inside look at the behind-the-scenes process Brown has gone through, as well as his part in the matter.
Porzingis’ comments in New York were far from the only input he had on Brown’s injury. The two Celtics, who have developed a close relationship in the past two years, spoke about Brown’s knee issues, with Porzingis providing some important perspective.
“Oh, we definitely talked about it,” Porzingis said. “Just because of my history, also with some of the knee stuff that had bothered me in the past. So, we definitely talked. I gave him my point of view and what I thought could help him.”
Since he entered the league, Porzingis has dealt with a slew of bumps and bruises. He missed the entire start to the 2024-25 regular season while recovering from offseason surgery to repair a rare foot injury, and lower-body issues have plagued him throughout his entire career.
If there’s anyone who knows about that specific road to recovery, it’s Porzingis.
While the big man wouldn’t provide exact details regarding their conversations, he stated that he just wanted to share his experiences with Brown.
“Not to go into too much detail, but some of the stuff that just had helped me,” Porzingis said. “That helped me. And we have some similar stuff maybe. He has something going on, maybe I know more or less what it is, and so I just gave him my point of view.”
With the introduction of the Play-In Tournament a few years back, players have never had more time to rest and recover before the playoffs. And with the Celtics locking up the two seed in the East relatively early, Brown will be heading into the first round of the postseason with the benefit of 11 days off without playing a game.
In that time, he’s got his teammates feeling very confident about how he’s looking.
“He did the things necessary, I think, to be as healthy and as feeling good as possible for this run that we're about to have,” Porzingis said. “And he looks good. He looks good. He's always saying he feels good, but he actually looks good, and that's the most important.”
“He looked good to me,” said Jrue Holiday. “I think JB just is gonna be JB in terms of not showing weakness. Everything is about not showing weakness for him and being able to [be] the strongest mentally and physically. So, nobody's worried about him. We all know that he wants to get on the court every time he plays, but we also know he's going to be prepared when the time comes.”
“He looked great today,” said Al Horford. “I was very happy to see him out there doing everything.”
