Boston Celtics: 3 reasons why Cs must consider a Kristaps Porzingis trade

Why Boston Celtics should pursue trade No. 3) A way to trade Kemba Walker

As I always make it a point to state, it’s truly upsetting to say that the Boston Celtics must find a way to move on from Kemba Walker this offseason, as the Houdini truly loves the man both as a person and as a player.

That said, with the fact that injuries have seemingly plagued him for the entirety of his tenure in Beantown, coupled with the fact that he, himself, may even want out, it looks as though a breakup between the two parties simply seems inevitable at this point.

Now, being the fact that he has nagging knee ailments, coupled with a lofty two years, $73.7 million remaining on his contract, it appears the 4x All-Star’s value has never been lower, with many believing the only way for the Celtics to successfully offload the point guard is by either attaching a pick along with him or bringing back another “bad contract” in return.

Unlike the past several years, Boston does not find itself flush with draft capital, thus making the idea of sending out a pick very unappealing.

With this, the more favorable of the two aforementioned routes that they should look to embark on is trying to swap Kemba’s lowly contract for another, and a consensus belief is that Porzingis’ deal could be viewed by the Mavs in the same vein as Walker’s is with the Cs.

A simple swap of both players could actually prove to be of great benefit for both parties, and we discussed our reasons as to why in a recent article about such an exchange:

"Despite being a shell of himself this past season, the fact still remains that even in a disappointing year Walker still managed to put up 19.3 points, 4.9 assists, four boards, and 1.1 steals on 36 percent shooting from deep. He also still showcased his impressive isolation scoring prowess, as he led all Cs players who logged over 650 minutes on the year in field goal percentage on unassisted shot attempts (60.6 percent), which would only stand to benefit Doncic who is seemingly the only Dallas player who can go out and get a bucket on his own with ease. This, coupled with the fact that during Kemba’s 2019 free agency excursion the Mavericks reportedly viewed the point guard as their ‘top target’ could aid in the idea that a union could be of some interest to Mark Cuban’s ball club. As for the Boston Celtics, they wind up parting with Walker but, in exchange, they wind up bolstering their frontcourt which has been a glaring weakness for the franchise for the past several years. Not only would Porzingis come in and be the most physically dominating big on the team’s roster (7-3 with a 7-6 wingspan) but he’d also easily be the most skilled. Since coming to Dallas two years ago, the Unicorn has posted impressive per-game averages of 20.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks on 45 percent shooting from the floor and 36 percent shooting from deep. A floor-spacing big and impactful rim protector at the pivot has been something that has been missing within Boston’s starting rotation since the days of Al Horford and, being that he’s still only 25-years-old, he’s a player who fits the timeline that Jayson Tatum (23) and Jaylen Brown (24) are currently on rather well and, with this, has plenty of time to recapture his 2016 All-Star effectiveness."

Such a move would help the Cs both from a talent standpoint as well as from a financial one as well, as it would clear up about $5 million in cap space for them to use during this upcoming offseason.

Even if it came to the Boston Celtics having to throw in a few seconds or a heavily protected first, a swap should still be considered, for Kemba Walker’s time in Title Town seems to be coming to an end anyway and it would appear no better talent than Porzingis would be realistically available in a deal centered around the veteran guard.