Boston Celtics: 2 Kemba Walker trade packages from interested suitors

The Boston Celtics have finally climbed back to .500, but tonight, the Los Angeles Clippers come to town.

Ipso facto, the winning may not last.

Another loss can knock the Cs down the ladder in a crowded Eastern Conference scrum, but four of the next five games on the schedule are against teams that are more than likely to land in the postseason.

The one team I fail to guarantee playoff entry to is the Toronto Raptors, who have to sort out their Kyle Lowry situation. Will they or will they not send Lowry back to Philadelphia, where he spent his college career at Villanova?

Still, they’ve shaken an early-season slump and have won four of their last six games. A marquee matchup against the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center follows, with a date with the Western Conference-leading Utah Jazz on the schedule after that.

Needless to say, things could get very hairy in Beantown in the coming weeks if the Celtics can’t put together a strong stretch run before and after the All-Star break.

As I’ve said stated numerous times throughout this season, Kemba Walker is an aging asset for the Boston Celtics whose trade value will only decrease in the next year and a half until he becomes an expiring contract.

His knee issues have caused him to miss a large portion of the 2020-21 season (and the 2019-20 season as well). The Cs have been able to weather the storm without him, but have struggled with him playing his best ball of the season.

Sunday’s nail-biting win against the Washington Wizards wasn’t exactly persuasive enough to make me think this team can contend as is.

Since they might not prove to be able to, exploring potential deals in the scenario that Boston falters is today’s exercise, and Walker is (you guessed it) the key asset the Celtics would be seeking a return for: