Kristaps Porzingis and the Boston Celtics have gotten off to a strong start to the 2023-24 season. Boston has won three straight games to improve their overall record to 8-2, and Porzingis has mostly looked the part of the unicorn-like enigma for opposing defenses that the Celtics had envisioned when they traded for him this past summer.

Boston's most recent victory came against Porzingis' former team, the New York Knicks, and after the game, Porzingis got one hundred percent real about how his new role with the Celtics compares to his former status as a number one option with the Knicks.

“Honestly, I still play pretty much the same,” said Porzingis, per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News (via Geoff Magliocchetti of Sports Illustrated). “There might be some games when I don’t get as many shots or things like that, but honestly I’m much more effective now than when I was shooting 18 shots per game.”

In Boston, Kristaps Porzingis is firmly entrenched behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in the Celtics' hierarchy of star power; however, thus far, his new teammates have been more than happy to spread the wealth to the Latvian big man, whose unique combination of size and shooting prowess has added a new dimension to what became a relatively predictable Celtics offense down the stretch of the 2023-24 season and playoffs.

While regular season winning has never been a problem for Boston, the Celtics are hoping that Porzingis' efficiency and unique skillset will translate to what figures to be a deep postseason run this upcoming spring.