Boston Celtics: 2 teams that could realistically trade for Kemba Walker
By Mark Nilon
Potential Kemba Walker landing spot No. 1) OKC Thunder
Yes, we’re well aware of the fact that the OKC Thunder are in the midst of a full-fledged rebuild and could easily find themselves picking one of the top point guard prospects in this coming draft to fill out their depth at the position.
However, even with this, it could be an intriguing idea for the front office to consider targeting the veteran point guard in an attempt to part ways with Al Horford‘s remaining years of his costly deal while also looking for another potential shot at upping a fallen star’s trade stock with the sole intention of flipping him similar to what they successfully did with Chris Paul just last season.
Similar to the situation that transpired with the Point God at the end of his second year with the Houston Rockets back in 2018, Kemba, too, is a highly paid veteran guard who, as we’ve already established, has dealt with nagging injuries all year with the Boston Celtics.
Perhaps a change of scenery could do the guard some good, and landing on a team with little expectations might just prove to be the best thing to improve both his psyche — which, as we all know, is arguably as big of a factor when it comes to success as physical skills on the court — and overall production on the court.
Walker has also already proven to be more than willing to serve as a second or even third option alongside the likes of both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown despite already being a proven perennial All-Star himself which, in turn, aided in the young wings’ ascent into stardom.
With this, perhaps this type of impact could be duplicated in OKC with their own young wing, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
With Horford’s aforementioned deal, making the money work in such a trade would already be a relatively simple task to accomplish, and a swap such as this could actually be beneficial for both parties involved, as the Cs would get a familiar face to bolster their frontcourt whilst actually shedding some salary in the process and the Thunder would simply be getting another go at potentially flipping a fallen star for more valuable assets to better complement their rebuild in the long run.