The Celtics could handle Lonnie Walker in the same way as Luke Kornet

Ever since the Boston Celtics signed Lonnie Walker IV, he has brought out as many optimists as he has skeptics.

Walker has proven himself to be a reliable source of scoring for long stretches. So, to his believers, it seems utterly ridiculous that the Celtics would cut him, especially considering the cheap contract he just signed.

However, Walker is coming off of a pretty lousy performance post-trade deadline, and his weak market serves as proof to his skeptics that he may not be worth keeping around.

The only way to know for sure is to see how he fares compared to the other Celtics when the preseason rolls around. There is a slight possibility that both sides could meet in the middle, in which both the best-case and worst-case scenarios come to fruition.

Walker may get cut after preseason, but that doesn't mean he can't be on the Celtics roster, or even in the rotation, sometime down the line. The Celtics have done something similar before with Luke Kornet.

The Celtics could handle Lonnie Walker the same way as Luke Kornet: G League to roster spot pipeline

This isn't about when the Celtics first acquired Kornet back in 2021. This is about when they brought him back in 2022.

It is a pretty minuscule detail to forget, but the Celtics brought Kornet back on a G League deal when he first returned. Kornet's NBA career was hanging by a thread throughout the season, going from G League to 10-day contracts.

He played 10 games for the Maine Celtics before Boston converted him to a full-time deal. Note that they did this after they traded a good chunk of their roster for Derrick White and Daniel Theis at the trade deadline.

Walker could dominate the preseason from start to end, which is why cutting him would potentially erupt the masses. However, knowing his contract details, that wouldn't mean his time with the Celtics would be done.

Should he join Maine, Walker could get a pay bonus to play there. And if the Celtics believe that he's shown enough to warrant a roster spot, they could convert him to a full-time contract like they did with Kornet two years ago. However, there may be some other moving parts to this hypothetical transaction.

With Kornet, the Celtics didn't sign him to a full-time contract until they had several open roster spots. That's not the case this time around. But if Walker proves to be better than some of the players on full-time contracts, they may cut him, sign him to the G League, trade or waive and stretch one of the players, and then convert Walker after he gets his bonus.

Don't be surprised if the Celtics waive Walker, no matter how good he looks in the preseason, but be equally unsurprised if he is on the team at some point during the 2024-25 season.