NBA: A Birthday Tribute To Antoine Walker

By John Goggin | Aug 13, 2015

Antoine Walker, shown with the Miami Heat in an April 30, 2008, game, turned 39 on Wednesday. (Photo by Keith Allison via Flickr.com/This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.) /

Antoine Walker is a name that brings Boston Celtics fans back in time, to the early 2000s when Walker and some other young kid named Paul Pierce were the centerpieces of a talented and exciting squad. Antoine Walker is the type of player that fans remember despite, or sometimes even because of, his imperfections. None was more notorious than Walker’s love of shooting.

Whether you’re watching his highlights on YouTube, or followed his whole career, nothing sticks out in his game more than his confidence. It was either a blessing or a curse, either fearlessly knocking down a clutch 3, or a troublesome shooting night.

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Call it frustrating, but we got love it. Coming from a man who said he shoots so many three pointers because there’s no four point shot, it was never a surprise. It was an expectation that he was going to shoot a lot of shots, LOTS of them, from places that don’t really make sense to you and I. But they made sense to him, and he loved them.

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The dynamic duo of Walker and Pierce served the Celtics well, getting them deep into the playoffs, while dominating teams with a duo that was more than hard to handle. The fact that either one of them could give you a 50-point game was crazy, and was awesome to watch.

Antoine Walker’s fearlessness was incredible, he was someone who played their heart out and was an explosive scorer. While we’ll remember the clutch shots and his amazing shimmy dance, people sometimes forget how it wasn’t all just good times.

Walker seemed to be one of the few sad examples of someone who wasn’t ready for NBA life and who could blame him? Walker had amazing talent, and worked tirelessly to make a name for himself in the league, but it didn’t work out how it could have. He had trouble with legal issues and debt throughout his career, and sadly lost all of his career earnings due to financial issues.

To keep himself afloat during the recession, he had to sell one of his most prized possessions: his 2006 NBA championship ring.

I feel Antoine deserved better. He seemed to be cast away by the process of business that is the NBA, and he just struggled with fame. Instead of retiring with a D-League team, he should have retired where it all began. The saddest part is that some might recognize him as one of the best players to suit up in green, which is terrible.

But I’ll always remember him as one of the most interesting and unique players to play for Boston, an insane scorer who was truly before his time, bringing three point shooting to the power forward position before it became more popular in the league. Happy 39th Antoine, and thanks for all the memories and great moments.

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