One of the Philadelphia 76ers’ biggest threat in the Eastern Conference is making plans to have one of their key players return to the lineup sometime soon.

The Boston Celtics have been playing without Kristaps Porzingis to begin the 2024-2025 NBA season. Over the offseason, Porzningis underwent surgery to repair an ankle injury. He missed all of training camp, preseason, and a few games to begin the new year.

The trend will continue for Porzingis as November approaches. How long will his absence last? NBA Insider Shams Charania recently touched on the Celtics big man’s recovery.

“The Celtics are targeting December from what I’m told for Kristaps Porzingis and his return,” Charania said during a Tuesday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “And there was video I was seeing last (Monday) night of him warming up before the game.” via NESN.

No Porzingis until December? No problem.

The Sixers haven’t faced the Celtics yet this year, but they aren’t seeing a team take a tumble in the standings as a result of missing their standout big man.

On Wednesday night, the Celtics finally took on a loss, coming up short against the Indiana Pacers 135-132 in overtime. With that loss, the Celtics are 4-1 on the year. They are one game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, who advanced to 5-0 this week.

It seems there is a good chance the Sixers will get a crack at a Celtics lineup with Porzingis in the picture. This season, the Sixers and the Celtics won’t have their first meeting until late December. On Christmas evening, the Sixers will travel to TD Garden for a primetime matchup against the defending NBA Champions. Barring any setbacks, Porzingis could be good to go by then.

It’s unclear where both teams will be in the standings when that matchup rolls around. Seeing as though the NBA Champions are still thriving without Porzingis, the Celtics might be near the top of the East in two months. As for the Sixers, they are still searching for their identity and probably won’t find it until they get two key players back in the mix.

Like the Celtics, the Sixers are missing a big man in Joel Embiid. After the seven-time All-Star underwent surgery last year, Embiid has been easing his way back into the lineup. He missed all of the preseason and sat out for the first four games of the regular season. Right now, the Sixers don’t have a timeline in place for Embiid’s return. They have been taking it day by day. The same goes for Paul George, who is dealing with a bone bruise on his knee.

The 1-3 Sixers will continue their season on Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies.