How Kristaps Porzingis Trade Impacts His Fantasy Basketball Value

Forward Kristaps Porzingis is on the move again.

The former All-Star has yet to play more than three seasons with any team in his 10-year NBA career. After two seasons with the Boston Celtics, the 2024 NBA Champions agreed to trade Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a three-team trade.

Hawks' Terance Mann will go to third club involved in the trade -- the Brooklyn Nets. Brooklyn's Georges Niang will go to Boston. Multiple draft picks are also involved in the swap.

Porzingis is, by far, the most significant fantasy contributor involved in the trade. During the 2024-25 season, Porzingis averaged 19.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 48.3% from the field.

How Hawks Trade for Kristaps Porzingis Impacts His Fantasy Basketball Value

This may be an oversimplication of Porzingis as a fantasy asset. However, his value, no matter where he plays in 2025-26, will continue to be greatly dependent on his health.

This past season, Porzingis only played in 42 games. He hasn't appeared in more than 65 contests since 2015-16, and over the past eight campaigns, he's dressed in 60 games or more just once.

So, as always, fantasy managers need to follow Porzingis' health throughout the summer to ensure he's ready to roll. This past season, he missed the first month because of surgery to repair a retinaculum injury.

But if healthy, Porzingis appears to be a strong fit for the Hawks. Atlanta needed to add another center with size to pair with guard Trae Young. Porzingis will bring that to the Hawks along with his 3-point shot.

The question, though, is how the Hawks will split time between Porzingis and incumbent center Onyeka Okongwu. It's easy to assume Okongwu will return to his backup role because Prozingis has always started, but that might not be the case. Okongwu played well with more minutes during the 2024-25 season.

It might not matter all that much. Porzingis has seen his minutes decrease each of the past two seasons. They could again even if he's in the Hawks starting lineup, and if he's not in the starting lineup, he could still play starter-like minutes.

But how the Hawks rotation looks in the preseason before the 2025-26 opener is another factor fantasy managers should monitor.

As far as the other two players on the move from the Porzingis trade, Niang figures to receive the most positive impact.

Niang started three games with the Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers last season. But the forward could compete for a starting job with the Celtics.

Although it was only 28 games, Niang scored 12.1 points with 3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per contest in Atlanta. He had never scored that much with another team in his career.

While Niang didn't start with the Hawks, he benefitted from more volume. Whether that volume will be available for him in Boston remains to be seen.

Like Niang, Mann didn't start in Atlanta. But it's quite possible Mann won't start with the Nets either. Brooklyn agreed to the trade to add yet another first-round pick to its summer arsenal.

Mann could become an afterthought in the deal.