Celtics trade Kemba Walker, 1st round pick to Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown
Celtics trade Kemba Walker, 1st round pick to Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown, 2nd round pick
The Boston Celtics are moving on from Kemba Walker as he is being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
In return, the Celtics will receive Al Horford, Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round pick.
In addition to landing Walker, Oklahoma City will also receive Boston’s 2021 first round pick, which is No. 16 overall, as well as a 2025 second-round draft pick.
Walker appeared in 43 games in the regular season, which was his 10th as a professional. He averaged 19.3 points per game, his lowest mark since the 2014-15 season as a member of the Charlotte Hornets.
Horford will enter his 15th NBA season next year, and he played for Boston three seasons from 2016-2018. In 28 games with the Thunder during the regular season, he averaged 14.2 points with 6.7 rebounds. Brown will play for his third team in three NBA seasons, and he averaged 8.6 points and 8.9 boards in 43 games for Oklahoma City.
The Celtics are still in the process of replacing head coach Brad Stevens, who will move to a front office role within the organization.
Celtics trading Kemba Walker, first-round pick to Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown
In Brad Stevens’ first major move since replacing Danny Ainge as president of basketball operations, the Boston Celtics will trade guard Kemba Walker, a 2021 first-round pick and future second-round to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown and a second-round pick, a person familiar with the details told USA TODAY Sports.
The person requested anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly until the trade is official.
Walker, who battled injuries with the Celtics, has two years and $73.6 million left on his contract. There was some frustration on Walker’s end after the Celtics tried to trade him at the beginning of last season. The Celtics free up some salary cap space but are now in the market for a point guard heading into the draft and free agency.
Walker averaged 19.3 points and 4.9 assists in 43 regular-season games and missed Boston’s final two first-round playoff games against Brooklyn with an injury.
For the Thunder, they continue to stockpile first-round picks in their rebuild. The Thunder now have 19 first-round picks, including three in the 2021 draft.
Oklahoma City acquired Horford just before the start of the 2020-21 season from Philadelphia for more assets, including a future first-round pick. He played in just 28 games for the Thunder and did not play in the final two months of the season. Horford spent three seasons with Celtics before signing with Philadelphia in free agency in 2019.
hat had been speculated since the end of the disappointing 2020-21 season for the Boston Celtics came to fruition on Friday morning, as Adrian Wojnarowski reports that new President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens has traded Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder.In addition to the salary cap relief Boston desired by moving Walker's contract, the Celtics will welcome back old friend Al Horford, who left the Celtics after the 2018-19 season to sign a lucrative contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. Horford played a career-low 28 games this season for the Thunder, averaging 14.2 ppg and 6.7 rebounds.
To sweeten the deal the Celtics included their first-round pick (No. 16) in next month's NBA Draft, as well as a 2025 second-round pick.
Oklahoma City included Moses Brown as part of the deal, a 7-foot-2, 245-pound big man who went undrafted out of UCLA in 2019. He spent time with the Blazers and Thunder on two-way contracts and has distinguished himself in the G League.
Brown was named to the All-NBA G League First Team after season averages of 18.5 points, 13.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 26.4 minutes per game this past season. He was also placed on the NBA G League All-Defensive Team.
As for Horford, who has two years and $68.5 million left on a partially guaranteed deal for 2022-23, he enjoyed three productive seasons with the Celtics from 2017-2019 and was a key figure in Boston's Eastern Conference Finals runs.
Brad Stevens is already making moves as the president of basketball operations in Boston.
The Celtics are trading Kemba Walker, the No. 16 overall pick in the 2021 draft and a 2025 second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown and a second-round pick in 2023, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Walker joined the Celtics in 2019, the same offseason Horford departed from Boston in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. Horford played three seasons with the Celtics.
Boston is one of seven teams still in search of a new coach. Stevens was promoted to team president after Danny Ainge resigned earlier this month.
Walker averaged 19.9 points and 4.8 assists in two seasons with the Celtics.
He made one All-Star appearance, but issues in his left knee limited his success with the organization. The 31-year-old point guard missed nearly a month to start the 2020-21 season, as well as Boston’s final two playoff games against the Brooklyn Nets because of a bone bruise in the same knee.
The Boston Celtics are getting in on the busy week across the NBA. Boston has traded All-Star point guard Kemba Walker, the No. 16 overall pick in this year's draft, and a 2025 second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round draft pick, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Celtics had recently been trying to trade the guard, who dealt with injuries in his last two seasons with the team. However, there was thought around the league that, due to the two years and $73.6 million remaining on his contract, it would be difficult to pull off. But in his first move as Boston's new president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens managed to unload a major contract that was seen as a negative asset around the league. The Celtics also got some value back in Horford and Brown, the latter of which showed promise in his second season as a young, developing center.
But this move is more about financial flexibility for the Celtics than the players who they get back in the Walker trade. By moving off Walker's contract, it could create significant cap space for Boston in the summer of 2022, where stars like Chris Paul, Bradley Beal, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Kawhi Leonard, Zach LaVine, Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler could all potentially become free agents. Obviously some of those guys could re-sign with their current team or opt in to their player option, but by creating more cap space it gives the Celtics room to improve their roster in the near future.
It's still unclear what the Celtics plan to do with Horford, because he could be a positive piece for next season, or they could deal him for a pick or another player in a package deal. Despite being stuck on a rebuilding Thunder team after being traded by the Philadelphia 76ers last offseason, Horford experienced his most successful individual season since his first year in Boston back in 2016. He put up 14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 28 games before the Thunder decided to shut him down for the season for the sole purpose of eventually trading him.
Horford's a versatile big with two-way capabilities, and was an integral cog in Boston's back-to-back Eastern Conference finals appearances a few years ago. If the Celtics plan on keeping him, it would certainly give them some skilled depth in the frontcourt. But it's also not inconceivable to trade him and the remaining two years and $53.5 million left on his contract.
For Walker and the Thunder, his path in Oklahoma City may follow a similar path as Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Horford, per Wojnarowski. The Thunder clearly don't have a long-term necessity for Walker with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being their franchise point guard, but a rejuvenated season with OKC could yield positive results for him as it did for those other players listed. Paul took OKC to the playoffs and was able to pick his trade destination the following season and is now in the Western Conference finals. If Walker can have a bounce-back season with the Thunder, then he'll likely have the option to call his shot on where he wants to play next.
There is also the possibility the Thunder turn around and trade him immediately, but still keeping his preferred destination in mind. OKC already has a treasure trove of draft picks that now includes three first-round picks this year, including the No. 4 overall pick and the 16th pick just acquired from Boston. If there's a team looking for an All-Star-level point guard and is willing to drop a first-round pick to get him, then the Thunder would gladly make that deal.
There may be more moves surrounding this initial deal, but from first glance both teams seem to have gotten solid value out of this trade.
MILWAUKEE -- With the seconds winding down in the third quarter, Khris Middleton grabbed a rebound and started a fastbreak the other way. Spotting Giannis Antetokounmpo out ahead of him, he lobbed a pass up to his MVP teammate and kept running right to the rim. That turned out to be a wise decision, as Giannis missed an off-balance shot and the loose ball somehow ended up right in Middleton's hands for an easy layup to beat the buzzer.
It certainly wasn't the prettiest buzzer beater you'll ever see, but it was a huge bucket to push the lead back to double digits and create some momentum heading into the fourth quarter. It was also one of a number of key plays by Middleton at the end of the second and third quarters that helped the Milwaukee Bucks secure a 104-89 win over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 6, and keep their season alive.
"He had a great game with timely possessions," Jrue Holiday said. "He really carried us through those moments when we needed a lift. He's done it all year and you know it's win or go home, and he took it upon himself to go ahead and do that."
As he has been for much of the series, Middleton was fantastic overall, finishing with 38 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals while shooting 11-for-16 from the field. He set a new playoff career-high in the process, and also became the first player to put up 30/10/5/5 with five 3s in a playoff game in NBA history. But it was the mini runs he went on to close the second and third quarters that really made the difference.
Up by as much as 13 earlier in the second quarter, the Bucks were suddenly clinging to a five-point lead with just over a minute to play in the half. It was easy for memories of Game 5 to start playing in everyone's head at that point, but Middleton stepped up and settled everything down.
First, the Bucks got a stop and Holiday pushed the ball ahead in transition. He dropped it off to Giannis who whipped a pass out to Middleton for a wide-open 3-pointer that caught nothing but net.
The next time down the floor, Giannis went to work in the mid-range and looked like he was going to shoot a jumper. At the last second, however, he spotted Middleton open on the wing and found him for another huge triple. All of a sudden the Bucks were back up by 11 -- which is where their lead would stay going into the break -- Pat Connaughton was flexing and the Fiserv Forum crowd was going wild.
"I mean obviously we kind of let him out of the bag