After another season ended in playoff disappointment due to poor roster construction, the Boston Celtics and President of basketball Operations/General Manager, Danny Ainge, decided to “mutually” part ways and Brad Stevens, who has coached the Celtics for eight consecutive NBA seasons, was promoted to be the new GM of the Celtics.
In a very unexpected and puzzling move, Stevens will now be in charge of the Celtics’ front-office and will be tasked with trying to get this team out of the mud and back on the path to championship glory.
READ MORE: NBA Rumors: 3 teams who should take a chance on trade for Kemba Walker
With Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as their two young stars, the future is definitely bright for the Celtics, but they are also built to be in a position to win now. With Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart next to these two, the Celtics have one of the better starting rotations out of any teams in the league, but their supporting cast is one of the worst in the league.
Boston’s bench averaged the third least points per game this past season and with their best bench player being rookie Payton Pritchard, this is definitely an area that Brad Stevens will need to improve this offseason. However, in order to do so, Boston would have to move on from one of their key contributors over the years.
Kemba Walker has seen his name come up in NBA trade rumors a lot this past year and when Danny Ainge was the team President at the beginning of the year, he gauged trade interest in Walker around the league to see if the Celtics could get out of his large contract.
Now, with word of this coming out, it seems like there is a rift between Walker and this organization, which could lead to the 4x All-Star being traded in the offseason. With $73.6M remaining on his contract through the 2022-23 season, not many teams have the capability to trade for a guy like Kemba Walker, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are reportedly a team that has interest.
According to our own Evan Massey, the Thunder are “a team to monitor” in the potential Kemba Walker-Celtics split and they definitely have the cap space to be able to do this.
This would be a big move for the Celtics to make, but in doing so, they can free up some cap space and add a familiar face back to their roster that could definitely help make a difference next season. With that said, let’s dive in and take a look at an offseason trade proposal that would send Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
