Tag: Kemba Walker

NBA Twitter reacts to Kemba Walker-Al Horford trade between Thunder, Celtics

After the Thunder and Celtics agreed to trade Kemba Walker for Al Horford, NBA reporters and analysts took to Twitter.

Reports around NBA Twitter gave generally positive reviews to the Oklahoma City Thunder for their trade with the Boston Celtics that centered around Al Horford and Kemba Walker.

The Thunder received point guard Kemba Walker, the No. 16 pick in the 2021 draft and a 2025 second-round pick in exchange for center Al Horford, center Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round pick, the team announced on Friday morning.

In gaining Walker, Oklahoma City can hope to replicate the reclamation projected that was successful with Horford last season and Chris Paul the year before.

The first-round draft pick is the third that the Thunder currently own.

Here are some reactions from NBA reporters:

To clarify, if the Rockets’ pick drops to No. 5, the Thunder would not have pick No. 18.

From the Boston perspective of the deal:

Getting off that money really helps, though:

Not only is that path a little easier, but the Celtics got below the luxury tax. It will put them in better position to re-sign Evan Fournier and use the MLE, though they will have to make other moves if they want to remain under the tax.

Check out MassLive for more detail on the merits of such a trade for Boston:

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Thunder announce draft picks involved in the Kemba Walker-Al Horford trade

See the Thunder and Celtics draft picks involved in the Kemba Walker-Al Horford trade, and the implications for Oklahoma City next month.

As has been the case for the better part of two offseasons, the latest Oklahoma City Thunder involves draft picks complexities.

On Friday morning, the Thunder announced they had traded Al Horford, Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round pick to the Boston Celtics for Kemba Walker, a 2025 second-round draft pick and the No. 16 pick in the 2021 draft.

At the time of the deal, Oklahoma City had three 2023 second-round picks, while Boston had two in 2025. Let’s review the exact draft capital and the implications that come with them, starting with the second-rounders.

MORE: Breaking down every future Thunder draft pick

2023 second-round draft pick to Boston

These are the three draft picks that the Thunder owned entering Friday:

  • Own second rounder
  • Wizards second-round pick (via Pelicans)
  • Better second-rounder of Mavericks or Heat (via Mavericks)

They will send the worst of these three to the Celtics.

That’s a wide range involving four teams. It feels safe to assume that the Mavericks’ or Heat’s pick will be in the mid-to-late second-round.

2025 second-round draft pick to Thunder

The Thunder will receive the more favorable of these two second-round draft picks that Boston owned entering Friday:

  • Boston Celtics
  • Memphis Grizzlies

Both teams hope to still be in playoff contention in four years, so this is likely just another trade chip for Oklahoma City.

No. 16 pick in 2021 draft

This is interesting because the Thunder may have two mid-first-rounders. As a reminder, if the Thunder do not receive the Houston Rockets’ pick in the lottery (top-4 protected), they will receive the Heat’s pick at 18 instead.

Some names to put on your radar in that area of the draft: Ziaire Williams, James Bouknight, Moses Moody, Josh Giddey, Chris Duarte, Tre Mann, Franz Wagner, Cameron Thomas, Sharife Cooper

But this seems more valuable as a trade weapon than for the Thunder to use. If worst-case scenario happens and Oklahoma City A) does not get the Rockets’ pick and B) their own pick does not end up in the top-5, would grouping picks 7 (for example), 16 and 18 together allow them to move up into the top-5 and get one of the players perceived as likely future All-Stars?

They also own three second-round picks: No. 35, 36 and 55. They won’t enter next season with six rookies on the roster, but it’s not off-base to speculate that they could throw everything at a team to move up if needed.

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Report: Celtics like chances to resign Fournier; Thompson may stay

With Kemba Walker being traded and Al Horford returning to Boston, what does that mean for the rest of the Celtics roster?

Brad Stevens has wasted no time in shaking up the roster as news broke this morning of the Celtics trading Kemba Walker as Al Horford returns to Boston.

It seemed clear that the Celtics roster would look different come next season but for a move to be made this early? That was a bit of a surprise.

With Walker out and Horford back in a Celtics uniform alongside Moses Brown, the question of which other Celtics will be on their way out the door begin to service.

Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe hinted on Twitter following the trade of potential roster moves going forward this offseason.

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Report: Celtics like chances to resign Fournier; Thompson may stay

With Kemba Walker being traded and Al Horford returning to Boston, what does that mean for the rest of the Celtics roster?

Brad Stevens has wasted no time in shaking up the roster as news broke this morning of the Celtics trading Kemba Walker as Al Horford returns to Boston.

It seemed clear that the Celtics roster would look different come next season but for a move to be made this early? That was a bit of a surprise.

With Walker out and Horford back in a Celtics uniform alongside Moses Brown, the question of which other Celtics will be on their way out the door begin to service.

Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe hinted on Twitter following the trade of potential roster moves going forward this offseason.

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Celtics make Kemba Walker/Al Horford, Moses Brown deal official with press release

Boston made the deal official with a press release circulated to the media Friday.

The Kemba Walker era in Boston is officially at an end and the second Al Horford era kicked off via an official press release from the Celtics circulated to the media Friday morning.

The deal sending Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for former Celtic Al Horford and Moses Brown with draft assets headed in both directions was announced in the release detailing the first major move of Brad Stevens in his role as President of Basketball Operations for the storied franchise. Widely hailed as a positive move for not only Stevens but the Thunder as well, it seems Stevens is off to a positive start as team president.

In the release, the new team president had plenty to say about Walker and Horford both.

Celtics-Thunder trade: Who are the winners and losers in the Kemba Walker trade?

Sam Presti done did it again.

It’s pretty rare that we get a trade at this point in time in the NBA.

You’ve got teams in the playoffs playing for a championship, obviously. And for the non-playoff teams or the teams eliminated from the postseason, it’s draft time. They’re preparing for the lottery and the draft combine after it.

But Brad Stevens and Sam Presti clearly didn’t mind making a big splash right now. They just threw a total blockbuster trade into the equation with the Kemba Walker trade.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the swap. The Celtics are sending Walker and the 16th overall pick to the Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown and a future second-round pick.

That’s a huge move. So, of course, we’ve got to break it down. Winners and losers, coming at you.

Woj: Celtics trade Kemba Walker, picks for Al Horford, Moses Brown, draft assets

Celtics fans around the world awoke to a blockbuster deal swapping out Kemba Walker for old friend Al Horford and Moses Brown.

Boston Celtics fans awoke this morning to news of a blockbuster trade sending starting point guard Kemba Walker and the 2016 No. 16 overall pick, and a 2025 second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for former Boston Celtic big man Al Horford, center Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round pick, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The deal, newly minted tam president Brad Stevens’ first in that role, will save the Celtics $9 million next season and roughly $73 million over the life of Horford’s contract compared to Walker’s, with the former Celtic big man only guaranteed for $14.5 million in 2022-23.

With the move, Boston has at once shored up its frontcourt rotation significantly with players who fit a modern style of play with a familiar veteran beloved by fans and teammates alike.

That should at least in part offset losing Walker’s equally-beloved locker room presence while helping clarify roles across the roster.

Expect more moves as the offseason unfolds for the Celtic, and stay tuned to this site for more details on this emerging storyline.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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The Kemba Walker trade will go down as Brad Stevens’ first big move as the Celtics’ GM

Stevens is starting fast.

Welp. Looks like the training wheels are coming off early for Brad Stevens as the Celtics’ team president.

It was just a couple of weeks ago that the Celtics promoted Stevens from head coach to president of basketball operations. You’d think that it’d take some time to get adjusted and that moves wouldn’t come quickly.

And if you thought that, apparently, you’d be wrong. He just made his first move for the team and, man, was it ever a big one.

The Celtics just traded Kemba Walker and a first-round pick to get Al Horford back in Boston, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

This is such a wild deal. Brad Stevens has officially cut his teeth as the Celtics’ GM.

And this is a move he’s going to be judged on for years to come down the road. It’s a big gamble. Sure, the Celtics cleared their cap sheet a bit. But they also just traded their first-round pick for a 34-year-old center who hasn’t played meaningful basketball in two years.

Horford has a good history in Boston, but we’ll see if he can rekindle that a bit next season. If he can’t? Stevens will certainly hear about it.

Sam Presti’s team-building philosophies makes Thunder trade for star unlikely

There have been trade rumors for stars like Bradley Beal and Kemba Walker that include the Thunder, but they’re very unlikely to happen.

With Bradley Beal, Kemba Walker, Kristaps Porzingis and even Damian Lillard floating in the rumor mill, the Oklahoma City Thunder have started to pop up around social media and think pieces.

But it’s highly unlikely the Thunder trade for one of these players.

In mid-May, Thunder general manager Sam Presti spoke to the media for the final time of the 2020-21 season. He vocalized the mindset that likely comes into play in these types of scenarios.

“Short cuts cut long runs short, and we’re going to do everything in our power not to allow that to happen,” Presti said. “When we do get back to the postseason, we want it to be an arrival and not an appearance. An arrival meaning that we can return. We can be there. We can take some chance or bad fortune and not have it sink us completely.”

To clarify, Presti was speaking generally about his philosophy for the team during this press conference. He was not asked about specific players or situations.

While the Thunder have traded for stars before, notably Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, this 2021 team is very different.

Before we get further, it’s also important to note the differences between the four players mentioned at the top of the article.

Beal has averaged more than 30 points per game for two seasons in a row. He did this while shooting 48.5% this season despite defenders draped around him.

Yet the Washington Wizards star only has one more season on his contract before he has a player option, which he very well could decline and kickstart a new, potentially supermax contract.

If he were to join the Thunder but then find brighter horizons in free agency, OKC would have traded a treasure for one year of Beal.

“We don’t want a position where we get there but we have no way to get back,” Presti said. “That’s the focus and precision with which where we’re working.”

Lillard, another bona fide star, is much less likely to be traded. His supermax contract begins next season, giving the Blazers four years before it expires. Portland has leverage, and Lillard is loyal. It’s not worth talking about him beyond this paragraph for this article.

Walker is a different scenario. Injuries have hindered his play the last two seasons, and he is on the books for $73 million over the next two seasons — the latter of which is a player option — but he is still an All-Star-caliber guard.

The Thunder would likely be a better team short-term with him, but he would take away time from developing young players and may create instability if he gets injured again.

Unless Boston is willing to give up draft picks or young prospects to unload him, it doesn’t make sense for the Thunder to trade for Walker. He’s an example of a player who may help OKC get to the playoffs or a play-in game, but he wouldn’t help them become a long-term contender.

Porzingis, who will be 26 at the beginning of next season, is more interesting for the Thunder timeline- and position-wise, but he is owed more than $30 million each of the next three seasons. He played only 43 games this season and has only reached 50 once in the last four seasons.

“A lot of mistakes get made when you artificially try to accelerate something that needs to build momentum or growth organically,” Presti said.

Organic growth will be the key. Oklahoma City has never been a prime free-agent destination. Instead, the organization became one of the most successful in the league by drafting well and then adding on by trades when the time was right.

Getting George helped the franchise extend its period of contention. He wasn’t the piece that got them there.

That should be the philosophy once again. The time is not right to trade. Oklahoma City is not ready to compete for a title. In a couple of years, when these 20-year-olds are closer to their prime and OKC still has its collection of draft picks, they can strike when the iron is hot.

Stars will be available down the road. It’s the nature of the NBA. If they can put together a team and then acquire a star — think Mike Conley to the Utah Jazz or Chris Paul to the Phoenix Suns — they’ll be in a better position than if they give up a load of assets to get back to the playoffs now. Presti’s philosophy: If you try to force success, it’s very hard to sustain it.

“If you artificially try to do that, I think now what you’re doing is you are really limiting the upside of your goals or your potential outcomes because you’re basically letting time or impatience or lack of poise kind of drive your decision-making rather than your goals,” the general manager said.

Will Boston’s Kemba Walker be hard to trade? Not everyone is buying that narrative

While many analysts view Kemba Walker’s contract as a negative value, not all of them believe he’ll be hard to trade.

While there are some in the wider Boston Celtics and NBA media communities who believe that Celtics starting point guard Kemba Walker is playing on a negative value contract at $36 million this season and $37.6 million in 2021-22, not everyone agrees that it will be hard to deal the UConn product.

Among them, The Athletic’s David Aldridge, who made a recent guest appearance on the CLNS Media podcast “Celtics Beat” to talk the torrid start to Boston’s offseason after a disappointing 2020-21 campaign. Speaking with hosts Adam Kaufmann and Evan Valenti, the trio had plenty to say about Walker’s future with the team — as well as how it could end.

“I don’t think it’ll be hard trading Kemba Walker,” began Aldridge, clearly not buying into the distressed assets narrative swirling about the New York guard.