The Boston Celtics would have been perfectly fine heading into the 2024-25 season with the roster they had put together. They kept the main ingredients of not only the reigning champions but also one of the most dominant teams in recent memory. And then, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski dropped the late-August bomb that they would be signing Lonnie Walker IV.
But there were more details about his new deal with the Celtics from The Athletic's Shams Charania.
Contract details for Lonnie Walker IV with the Celtics, sources said: Exhibit 10. An E10 allows Celtics to give a bonus to Walker if he is waived after training camp and plays for the team's G League affiliate in Maine.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 29, 2024
Not only did the Celtics sign one of the best remaining free agents on the market, but now he'll have to prove himself in training camp, too?!
Walker may not be a massive game-changer, but it's puzzling that the Celtics, a team known for virtually having no flaws to exploit, just added one of the few elements they didn't have on last season's roster - a bench scorer.
While Walker has a mountain to climb, it's reasonable to think that he might actually play in their rotation. So much so that there's a scenario where he may be in their playoff rotation. And why not? He's been there before.
But getting past the fact that this is a low-risk, high-reward signing for the Celtics, Walker ending up in Boston after all this time proves two of the NBA's biggest problems.
Celtics signing Lonnie Walker IV shows how damaging new CBA has been to the middle class
Walker isn't one of the very best bench players in the league. If he were, he certainly would not have been available this late in the offseason for a contender like the Celtics to pick him up. However, the fact that no one offered him a veteran's minimum contract after the season he had shows that the CBA is squeezing out middle-class players like him.
The story of the offseason has been about teams desperately trying to avoid tax aprons in any way they can. It's why the LA Clippers didn't pay Paul George the price the Philadephia 76ers were willing to. It's why the Denver Nuggets let Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk. It's why many grimace when they look at the Phoenix Suns' and Milwaukee Bucks' salary cap situations.
Since teams want to avoid these restrictions like the plague, the NBA's middle class is suffering for it, and Walker is simply the latest casualty.
Walker joining the Celtics is far from the first case of a productive player joining a contender for pennies this offseason, as we saw the Bucks and Suns add Gary Trent Jr. and Tyus Jones, respectively.
Those are two players who were making eight figures annually on their last contracts, now making chump change.
There should be no realm where someone as good as Walker joins the Celtics on a training camp deal just because teams are penny-pinching now more than ever. While, of course, no one in Boston will complain about getting such a benefit - Brad Stevens continues to be a front-office wizard - it shouldn't be swept under the rug that these restrictions are hurting Walker's stock for reasons that are out of his control.
Celtics signing Lonnie Walker IV also shows that the NBA needs expansion
While it's true that Walker has played well enough to deserve a guaranteed contract, part of the reason it took this long for him to get anything is that there aren't enough roster spots to go around in the NBA compared to the level of talent.
The NBA's talent level has become so strong that, even after the season Walker had, the best he could land was a training camp deal. And while he's no longer on the market, other quality free agents like Markelle Fultz, Dennis Smith Jr., and Cedi Osman remain available with little time left for them to be added.
All of this points to the NBA desperately needing to expand. For the record, expansion has been cooking in the rumor mill for quite some time now. While it appears that it is where the NBA is headed one way or another, it's becoming an elephant in the room that the league can't ignore anymore.
Expansion has led to the NBA diluting its talent pool in the past, but given how much widespread talent the league has now, it's at the point where losing players wouldn't be as much of a setback as it has been in the past.
The Celtics adding Walker is an unforeseen twist that fans should be excited about since not many believed there was an avenue for the Celtics to improve themselves. However, his signing really highlights two unmistakable problems that the NBA cannot ignore.