Boston Celtics: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason
By Adam Taylor
Sign-and-trade for Kemba Walker
The Kyrie Irving antithesis, Kemba Walker has already made an impression with the Boston Celtics before a ball has even been bounced.
Walker was cquired in a two-way sign-and-trade from the Charlotte Hornets with Terry Rozier heading in the opposite direction along with a 2020 second-round pick swap; full details of the trade can be found here.
A three-time All-Star and 2019 All-NBA third team selection, Kemba is a star in his own right. Having been in a losing situation throughout his NBA career, it’s exciting to dream about what he can accomplish playing alongside the rest of this Celtics roster.
His career stats for the Hornets read 605 games played, 19.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists shooting 41.8 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from 3.
Kemba brings a team-first mindset and comes with a reputation of being a well-liked and sociable member of the locker room.
He has spoken of his admiration for both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and it is common knowledge he helped recruit Gordon Hayward to the Hornets during the 2014 free agency period, only for the Utah Jazz to match the offer.
Kyrie Irving leaving the Celtics was not a shock by any stretch, but it did significantly weaken the team.
Then add Terry Rozier making his position on this roster virtually untenable following his tell-all interview on ESPN’s First Take and this was looking like a disastrous summer for the Celtics.
Danny Ainge deserves a tremendous amount of praise for how he handled the situation, managing to pivot on a dime and flip the script.
He went from losing Kyrie to gaining Kemba and moving Rozier in the other direction while collecting a better second-round pick than what they originally had, a move which we could be calling a masterstroke by the end of the upcoming season.