kemba Traded to Thunder

Breaking news

The Boston Celtics are trading Kemba Walker and their 2021 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a package that includes Al Horford, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Along with Walker and the No. 16 overall pick in 2021, the Celtics are also sending a 2025 second-round pick to the Thunder in exchange for Horford, Moses Brown and a 2023 second-rounder, sources said.

The trade comes after a disappointing season for Walker, who missed the final two games of the Celtics' first-round loss to the Brooklyn Nets with a bone bruise in his left knee. After Boston was eliminated, Walker said he needed to focus on getting healthy after dealing with left knee issues for most of 2020 that caused him to miss the start of the 2020-21 season. He missed 29 regular-season games in all.

The four-time All-Star has two years and more than $73 million remaining on his contract.

Horford will rejoin the Celtics, where he played from 2016 to 2019, earning an All-Star nod in 2018. He was shut down for the final 28 games of this season as the Thunder limped to a 22-50 finish.

Brad must really like Al.

db

Kind of a collateral/lateral trade? Kemba wants out, NOLA wants Al out? Nobody gets hurt? Equally crappy, albatross contracts, but both teams get what they want somewhat?

Is this Brad's first official action?

db

Hi,
I don't get it. It seems they spent 1st round pick just to get rid of KW?
I don't think AH doesn't seem to have anything left in the tank.
The only benefit is AH's salary is about 9M less than KW's.

AK

Moses Brown - 7'2", 245#, 7'3 1/2" wingspan.  21 years old (22 on October 13th), 9'3" standing reach.  Has not even attempted a 3pt fga in his 2 seasons.  Might not make Brad happy, but that kinda makes me smile.  The last time OKC played us he killed us in the first half but got shut down in the 2nd.  But do you remember that first half?  He pnr'd us to death.  What's a bit worrisome is that we will now be his 3rd team in 3 years.  That's not a good sign.

Brown has 3 more years on his contract, 2 guaranteed and the 3rd a team option, for a grand total of $3.55M guaranteed and $2M for the team option year.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/boston-celtics/moses-brown-32830/


We now have Robert Williams, Tristan Thompson, Moses Brown, Al Horford and Luke Kornet (and Tacko, who isn't an NBA roster contract but...).  WAY too many bigs.  Is it possible RWill is on his way out, or will they just not pick up Luke Kornet who is an UFA?  Cutting Tacko, which may happen anyway, doesn't change anything because he's not on an NBA contract and doesn't count towards the team's maximum 15 player limit.  











Bob


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Man this deal seems like lightning striking

The Celtics wasted no time getting this deal done.

It also confirms the narrative that the Celtics have been wanting to move away from KW for a while.  Some unnamed sources were on point while others were not.  I knew it was probably going to cost Boston a first rounder.

This is a Danny Ainge trade!  Brad was involved but it has all the markings of a Danny Ainge transaction.

The Celtics take on $53 mill remaining on AH.  Kemba was due to make $36 million this year and Al will be around $27 million.  Moses Brown was a 2nd round pick and will only make $1.78 million this year.

He is a legit 7' 2" center who averaged 8.6 PPG and 8.9 rebounds while playing 21.4 MPG in 43 games.

Clearly the next move will be for a PG with TT being the very tradeable contract that anchors another deal.  Look for Semi and Kornet to also be let go.  If the Celtics go for a top rated PG look for Marcus to also be in the deal along with TT and don't forget we still have $11 million remaining on the big TPE plus several smaller but very useful TPE's to wager.

Al's got to be as happy as a pig in sh-t.

I do feel bad for Kemba in a way because he just had a $8 million dollar home built.  however, he still gets a big paycheck and maybe a buyout next season to land with a team where he can compete for a title.

The Celtics did not have a lot of teams out there that could or would absorb Walker's contract AND questionable health concerns.

I think the Celtics deserve an A grade for this move.

112288 wrote:Per Hoopshype

Al Horford: Only $14,500,000 guaranteed in 2022/23, HoopsHype has learned. He would get $19,500,000 guaranteed if his team makes it to the NBA Finals in 2019/20, 2020/21 or 2021/22. His 2022/23 would be fully guaranteed if his team wins the NBA championship.

112288

112288

The numbers are really good and gives Boston a lot of flexibility.

With respect to the PG replacement I previously envisioned that PP can be a starting quality PG.  I still see that and believe that. Marcus Smart is not a quality starting PG although he is more than worthy as a solid BU. PP needs more seasoning but how fast he develops is unknown.

I still expect a trade to add a veteran PG to the group.  The Celtics will need to move a center and the ill fitting, ball caressing TT seems like the one that should go.  Marcus has a year left on his contract and if the Celtics are not planning on resigning him this may be the time to move him along with Thompson if they are looking to land a starting level PG. Some veteran guy can be had for peanuts but if you plan to move $23 million then expect a more significant trade.

The makeover has begun.

I think we could see a big trade with multiple players exchanging jerseys.  

The prospect that Boston will resign EF is looking better.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Ditto dboss.  And you know I was a Kemba fan.  It just had to happen.  Where in Boston did Kemba build his house?  

The one place I thought he would end up is NY. I think that is where he wants to go

Rosalie

My buddy in Boston told me today that it is somewhere in the Brookline area.

Yes he would love to be in NY but we could not have pulled off a deal with them this year.

I would bet that Kemba will be begging for a buyout next year if a team like the Knicks are interested. The Kemba Walker situation is very sad on some levels. My hope for him is that his health improves to the point where he can regain some of that swag. I never disliked Kemba I just thought that he was a bad fit. I think it was the fit as much as it was the health issue that drove this move by the Celtics.

Can we get Bradley Beal without giving up the farm?!

db

Shamrock1000 wrote:

dboss wrote:

Clearly the next move will be for a PG with TT being the very tradeable contract that anchors another deal.  Look for Semi and Kornet to also be let go.  If the Celtics go for a top rated PG look for Marcus to also be in the deal along with TT and don't forget we still have $11 million remaining on the big TPE plus several smaller but very useful TPE's to wager.

That was one of the first thoughts that popped into my head, at least the TT part - didn't consider throwing in Marcus for a top PG....

Rock

The Marcus inclusion is highly speculative.

I just do not know if Marcus is the  guy that you want to or should resign.  I just do not see them resigning Fournier this year and then Marcus next year.  If you cannot make a deal for a PG using TT and something else Marcus could be in the picture and we could be looking at a guy like Brogdon in Indiana.  I could see a 3 team deal with Turner going to the 3rd team.  Put the 6'5" Brogdon at the point keep Evan and pick who starts at center.  That would be a very interesting team.

If Boston decides to retain Fournier Marcus will likely be traded.  TT has to be traded because we do not need him with the addition of AH and Moses.  So he is gone but I just do not know where.  The clock is ticking on the next move.

Al has a very friendly contract when you consider the nonguaranteed element in year two.  So down the road we may be looking at a center rotation of two very athletic centers that fit a long timeline into the future (the law firm of Williams and Brown defenders of the paint)

Shamrock1000 wrote:Question - would Danny have done this trade? Was Danny involved, or is this truly Brad's first move as President? Given Danny's history, it seems like giving up the first would have killed him...

This trade may have just been done but I know Danny was in the middle of it. Danny said that he would still be working with Brad during the transition period. There is no way in hell that Brad pulled this one off by himself.

The draft pick was a given because of the size of Kemba's contract. In another thread I mention the pick as being needed to make a deal work so i am not at all surprised. And I am sure everybody realizes that there are plenty of children to feed already. This team can live without a 16th pick this year. Don't be shocked if another one heads out the door if Boston has their sights set on a certain PG.

Another positive here is that Horford can tutor our young bigs.  People have been calling for a "big man coach" for the Celtics.  Well, that's Big Al.  He's not a full-time coach, of course, but he's got all the rest of the technical and non-tangible people skills for it.

I don't know what this trade for TWO bigs means for the future of last season's bigs but if RWill is still with us then having Al Horford here can only accelerate his growth.  Also, having Moses Brown on the team would also create some healthy competition for RWill.  Before today there really wasn't anybody on the team with his specific skillsets.  Now there is.

One thing about Moses:  77.2% of all his fgas last year were from 0-3'.  That means 'dunks'.  22.4% of his fgas were from 3-10'.  That pretty much means that Moses Brown plays, offensively, almost wholly within the restricted zone.  He is NOT a floor spreader, to say the least.  But his shot zones aren't significantly better than The Time Lord's. Their ft% are about the same, low 60%. The question is whether he's an RWill or a Hassan Whiteside on defense?  Will he defend at the arc or is he loathe to leave the paint?

Then there's the contract situation. As I have mentioned, Brown has 3 very friendly contract years left. Robert Williams has one more year left and then he's a RFA with a $5.4M Qualifying Offer.


Bob


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