that’s cool! The Boston Celtics have reportedly struck a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder that will ship point guard Kemba Walker to OKC. In turn, Al Horford, among others, returns to Boston. There are also some draft picks included in the deal.
This is what Adrian Wojnarowski tells usنا ESPN. Accordingly, the Celtics are trading the 31-year-old Walker with the 16th pick in the 2021 draft and the 2025 second-round pick to Oklahoma City. For this purpose, Horford, Moses Brown and the 2023 second-round pick will go to Boston.
With his first deal as the new chief of basketball operations for Celts, Brad Stevens caused quite a surprise. However, Boston is said to have held business talks about Walker in the past. When he found out, the relationship between Point Guard and the franchise got a crack.
Walker, who only moved to Boston in 2019, put in an average of 19.3 points and 4.9 assists last season with averages of 42 percent from the field and 36 percent from downtown. However, his injury history was worrying, Walker frequently suffered from knee problems.
Through the trade, the Celtics dumped the $73.6 million that Walker will earn in the next two years (player option for 2022/23 at $37.7 million), but they also have to participate in the first-round selection. Thunder has three first-round picks available in the 2021 draft.
At Horford (35), Boston had a strongman big man who ran for the traditional franchise from 2016 to 2019. After an unfortunate year in Philadelphia, The Sixers gave him to the Thunder in 2020. In rebuilding the team, Horford played no role, after only 28 assignments. Horford and GM Sam Prieste agreed that the 35-year-old would not be used and that the Thunder would instead look for a business partner.
Horford is also under contract until 2023 (about 27 million a year), but in the final year of his contract several bonuses are included, which he will likely find difficult to achieve. Over his career, Horford has averaged 13.9 points and 8.2 rebounds with a 51.7 percent field throw rate. Brown (21), another big man, showed some good closeness last season in OKC with 8.6 points and 8.9 rebounds at 21.4 minutes per game.