The Boston Celtics have three traded player exceptions at their disposal this summer, and Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens could have an intriguing undervalued acquisition on his radar.
The San Antonio Spurs, who our SAS sister-site Air Alamo believes adequately replaced Walker with second-round draft selection Malaki Branham, should have no qualms about losing their 2018 No. 18 pick, Lonnie Walker IV, in free agency.
Walker could be a restricted free agent, with a qualifying offer of $6. 3 million for the 2022-23 season available to him if San Antonio wanted to maintain his bird rights and not renounce the rights of the 23-year-old.
BSS’ Dan Greenberg outlined a scenario in which the Cs used the TPE–created by the three-team Juan Hernangomez trade that sent ‘Juancho’ to, coincidentally, the Spurs–along with draft capital to acquire Walker:
The scenario was beyond intriguing, but unfortunately Spotrac’s cap expert Keith Smith poured water on that possibility:
Can’t trade a pending FA.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 29, 2022
The Boston Celtics can’t execute a sign-and-trade for Lonnie Walker IV
Due to the Boston Celtics being over the $149 million luxury tax threshold, they cannot execute a sign-and-trade this offseason for anyone. In Walker’s situation, that’d be his most likely scenario to get out of San Antonio. Even after a down season, there will be interest in a blue-chip prospect two seasons removed from a 40.6% clip from the 3-point line enough for offer sheets to come rolling in.
Boston’s salary total would have to fall below $123 million for the 2022-23 season with Walker’s potential salary (likely eight-figures) in order to make a deal legal within the NBA’s salary cap rules. The chances that the Celtics will cut enough salary from their books to facilitate that are slim to none after an NBA Finals appearance.
If the Spurs withdraw their qualifying offer to Walker, the Cs would have to hope he would accept the taxpayer’s MLE in free agency. That’s the only way the bouncy baller will make his way to Beantown this summer.