Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Boston Celtics 

As things stand right now for the Celtics, fully healthy, Jayson Tatum starts at power-forward and Tristan Thompson is their center with Daniel Theis and Robert Williams as his back-ups. Given that the Celtics play a brand of “positionless” basketball and put their best four guys out there with a big man, Julius Randle would be a perfect fit because of his versatility and his adaptiveness as a big man. 

Acquiring Julius Randle gives the Celtics a lot of options to play around with rotation wise, but it also makes them a much better transition team. Given Randle’s ability to run the court with or without the ball in his hands and his above-average abilities to run the court as a big man, Boston could be a dangerous team pushing the ball in transition. 

Julius Randle has proven himself to be a reliable and high-level frontcourt option with the Knicks and with the Celtics, with two superstars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown calling the shots, he could thrive. In New York, Randle is having to do it all, but in Boston, he could take a step back and really open up his game more.

He would not have to have the ball in his hands and he would not have to make every play for his team to be successful, which makes him a fantastic third option on this team and potential leader of the second-unit when Brown or Tatum are getting a break on the bench.

Getting Frank Ntilikina and a future first-round pick are also two positive assets for the Celtics to gain because of the potential Ntilikina possesses and the draft capital the Celtics have built over the years. They are always looking to acquire draft picks, giving them many options in terms of building for the future and using their draft picks as trait bait. 

Overall, cutting ties with an All-Star talent like Kemba Walker may seem dumb, but at the end of the day, he has already reached the peak of his career and with his lingering knee issues, it is better to “end this marriage” now before Walker gets hurt again and his value is close to nothing. Getting a potential All-Star like Randle for Walker makes a lot of sense for the Celtics and should better their chances at winning a championship this year.