Former Celtics Star Playing for National Team for First Team in Nearly 10 Years

The end of the summer is a quiet time for basketball in the United States. But some of the NBA’s top players will be headlining EuroBasket 2025, which gives fans a glimpse into how these players will perform in the 2025-26 NBA season.

International superstars like Luka Doncic from the Los Angeles Lakers and Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks will be playing in the tournament. 

More news: NBA Insider Labels Celtics Offseason the Worst Among All Teams

Former Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis will return to playing in the EuroBasket for the first time since 2017. Porzingis will represent Latvia, who is one the host countries for this year’s international tournament. 

ESPN ranked Porzingis as the sixth-best NBA star to be playing in this year’s tournament. He averaged 23.6 points and six rebounds when he was 21 in 2017 to help Latvia finish in fifth place.

In addition to Porzingis, Latvia’s roster has two former NBA players, Davis Bertans and Dairis Bertans. The former was a second-round draft pick and played nine s easons in the NBA, and the latter went undrafted but played 12 games of the 2018-19 season with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Latvia is reportedly expected to finish around ninth place in the tournament, despite finishing fifth in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

Porzingis spent the last two seasons of his career with the Celtics after they acquired him in a three-team trade deal with the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards.

In his first season with Boston, Porzingis helped win the NBA championship, which was the first and only championship of his career. He averaged 12.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists during the Celtics’ seven-game run to the title.

Porzingis played one more season with the Celtics, where they lost to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

More news: Celtics Break Silence on Multi-Billion Dollar Sale of Franchise

After the season ended with an early playoff exit and superstar Jayson Tatum tearing his Achilles tendon, the Celtics traded Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks.

In exchange for Porzingis and a second-round draft pick, the Celtics landed Georges Niang and a second-round pick in a three-team trade deal with the Hawks and Brooklyn Nets.

Porzingis has yet to play a game with the Hawks, but his performance in EuroBasket 2025 will be a preview of what he will bring to Atlanta.

For more news and notes on the Boston Celtics, visit Boston Celtics on SI.