According to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, Boston Celtics big man Luke Kornet suffered an ankle sprain during practice and will miss 1-2 weeks of action.
Celtics center Luke Kornet suffered an ankle sprain in practice this week and will miss one-to-two weeks, sources tell me and @ShamsCharania.
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) September 30, 2022
Kornet is now the third Celtics frontcourt player to suffer an injury this summer. Danilo Gallinari tore his ACL while playing for the Italian national team at EuroBasket and will likely miss the entire season, while Robert Williams underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and will be out for roughly 8-12 weeks.
With the injuries, Kornet was set to play a big role in Boston’s rotation, but now they’ll have to wait until the latter half of the preseason to get a closer look at him.
During a recent interview at training camp, interim head coach Joe Mazzulla expressed confidence in Kornet, as the big man was practicing with the starting lineup. When asked about the grouping, Mazzulla referenced the Celtics’ preference to play big and said that it could definitely be something to look out for.
“That was our identity last year, was trying to play big. And like I said before, we’re trying to figure out our identity on the defensive end, and keeping it as consistent as we can is important, so I definitely think it’s something.”
Just before the Kornet injury was reported, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN revealed that the Celtics would be signing NBA veteran and six-time All-Star Blake Griffin to a one-year, fully-guaranteed contract. Griffin spent last season with the Brooklyn Nets, where he averaged 6.4 points and 4.1 rebounds in 17.1 minutes per contest.
Griffin will provide the Celtics with some much-needed frontcourt depth, as they will now be without three of their rotational bigs heading into the preseason.
Outside of Al Horford, the presumed starter, and backup big Grant Williams, Boston’s options at the four and five are thin. Mfiondu Kabengele is on a two-way contract, while both Noah Vonleh and Luka Samanic will be competing for roster spots during training camp.
