While leaving the team he won a championship with was difficult, Porziņģis sees this new opportunity with the Hawks as a better situation than the one with the Celtics.

Kristaps Porzingis knew a trade from the Celtics was possible this offseason. However, the big man did not suspect a move to the Hawks. The former Celtics big man spoke to Latvia’s Sports Studja in an interview this week in his first public comments after Boston traded him away as part of a three-team deal to the Atlanta Hawks for Georges Niang.

One of the headline transactions came on July 7, when Boston shipped Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade also involving the Brooklyn Nets. In that deal, the Hawks acquired Porzingis and a 2026 second-round pick,