Kemba Walker to Boston

RedOctober3829

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All-Star Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Hornets have sizable gaps and stalemate in talks so far, opening pathway for competitors in Boston, New York and Dallas, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium
—Shams
 

HomeRunBaker

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Why hasn't he said as much then? Why allow speculation?
Why hasn't he said what? He HAS said all these things but we are approaching signing period and Charlotte hasn't yet made an offer to my knowledge. He isn't going to say he isn't interested in any place without the Hornets putting anything on the table. There is no need for him to say anything else right now.

All-Star Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Hornets have sizable gaps and stalemate in talks so far, opening pathway for competitors in Boston, New York and Dallas, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium
—Shams
This is what I'd expect at this stage. Jordan knows Kemba's preference is Charlotte so why offer anything more than your competition at this point unless you are confident that Kemba would take less somewhere else.......after he's already said he'd take a discount to remain in Charlotte. The mistake Kemba made was talking too much in the first place which is why his agents have probably instructed him to zip it up.
 

Lazy vs Crazy

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All-Star Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Hornets have sizable gaps and stalemate in talks so far, opening pathway for competitors in Boston, New York and Dallas, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium
—Shams
Negotiating through the media, and he probably still ends up in Charlotte, but it would be rad if he comes here. I know he isn't ideal, but you can't pass up an allstar in his prime.
 

Mooch

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Woj bomb
The Boston Celtics have emerged as the frontrunner to sign Charlotte All-Star guard Kemba Walker once free agency opens Sunday at 6 PM ET, league sources tell ESPN.
I love this move, if it happens. You essentially get about 90% of Kyrie's production with 0% of the drama and headache. Kemba is a coaches dream as a player and my guess is that he will bring out the best in Tatum as a teammate and a leader.
 

lovegtm

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I love this move, if it happens. You essentially get about 90% of Kyrie's production with 0% of the drama and headache. Kemba is a coaches dream as a player and my guess is that he will bring out the best in Tatum as a teammate and a leader.
The problem is that you lose Horford, but I can see ways this could work.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Woj bomb
The Boston Celtics have emerged as the frontrunner to sign Charlotte All-Star guard Kemba Walker once free agency opens Sunday at 6 PM ET, league sources tell ESPN.
That is a bomb and I’d love this the way things are shaking out. I’m still not believing Jordan would allow Kemba to walk for nothing after not moving him over the last 24 months.
 

DJnVa

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That is a bomb and I’d love this the way things are shaking out. I’m still not believing Jordan would allow Kemba to walk for nothing after not moving him over the last 24 months.

https://twitter.com/NickCRadio/status/1144231373613539328
Right now on @GetUpESPN, @wojespn is breaking it down: "Boston and Kemba Walker are focused on each other and there is a very strong possibility that Kemba Walker will replace Kyrie Irving..."


https://twitter.com/StoolGreenie/status/1144229798308274176
t’s weird to me how nobody thought Kyrie was a bad fit two years ago, but someone who is like 90% his production with zero drama is a bad fit
 

lovegtm

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“Focused on each other” is pretty strong Woj language, no? Isn’t that his code for “the deal
is done but I can’t say it until July 1st”?
 

DJnVa

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“Focused on each other” is pretty strong Woj language, no? Isn’t that his code for “the deal
is done but I can’t say it until July 1st”?
Look at his tweets from draft night. They all say something like: "The Celtics are focused on Grant Williams with their next pick."

He used "focused" every time.
 

DJnVa

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Last edited:

mauf

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This might be worth a break out thread now.

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1144227344892272647
The Boston Celtics have emerged as the frontrunner to sign Charlotte All-Star guard Kemba Walker once free agency opens Sunday at 6 PM ET, league sources tell ESPN.


Then, on ESPN he used his draft night word of "focused" when talking about this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuuSH-Uku3s


EDIT: And yes, this *could* be a negotiating tactic with Charlotte.
Agree this is worth its own thread. Brought a bunch of related posts over from the cap-room thread.
 

CreightonGubanich

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I'm not positive signing Kemba is the right move, but it sure as hell makes the Celtics fun again. At this point, the path to championship contention is hoping that Jayson Tatum evolves into a top 10 player. Signing Kemba does nothing to detract from that, even though Kemba himself can't be the best player on a championship team. This is the one shot the Celtics have at adding a max salary guy unless they trade Jalen Brown. Next year that cap space goes away. You can see the rough outline of a contender if Tatum makes a leap - Kemba, Hayward and Brown as secondary scoring options.

Stylistically, Kemba is much more like Isaiah Thomas than Kyrie. He'll hold the ball a bit, but less of the trying to dribble by three guys. He's a good finisher at the rim for his size, but doesn't get to the line as much as Thomas did. He also moves well off the ball, he just didn't have the opportunity to play that way much in Charlotte. I'm optimistic about his fit playing off the ball when Hayward or Tatum initiate the offense.
 

DJnVa

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Do we think this is followed up by a Jaylen Brown trade?

We'll have that exception to use ($4.3 million?) to sign someone right?
 

BigSoxFan

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Upside: Very good player

Downside: Lots more UConn fans coming to games

Tough call but I’m in favor of it
 

lovegtm

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Do we think this is followed up by a Jaylen Brown trade?

We'll have that exception to use ($4.3 million?) to sign someone right?
It makes the most sense if they then have something like Brown for Turner lined up, but we’ll see.
 

RedOctober3829

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This might be worth a break out thread now.

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1144227344892272647
The Boston Celtics have emerged as the frontrunner to sign Charlotte All-Star guard Kemba Walker once free agency opens Sunday at 6 PM ET, league sources tell ESPN.


Then, on ESPN he used his draft night word of "focused" when talking about this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuuSH-Uku3s


EDIT: And yes, this *could* be a negotiating tactic with Charlotte.
Why would Charlotte supermax him out when they have so many other problems with their roster cap wise? They need to let Kemba go and trade off as many bad contracts as they can to start over.
 

lexrageorge

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...

This is what I'd expect at this stage. Jordan knows Kemba's preference is Charlotte so why offer anything more than your competition at this point unless you are confident that Kemba would take less somewhere else.......after he's already said he'd take a discount to remain in Charlotte. The mistake Kemba made was talking too much in the first place which is why his agents have probably instructed him to zip it up.
This is exactly correct. The issue the Hornets have is that because they did not make a contract offer prior to free agency (presumably), it did give Kemba and his agent to start gauging the market. Once they start doing that, Walker is now exposed to all the advantages that some of those other destinations have to offer in terms of team composition, etc.

Walker may truly love it in Charlotte; it's a great basketball area with great basketball fans. But the franchise is not all that well run, and they are really in a tough place cap wise to improve, with or without Walker. After toiling for 8 years, he probably wouldn't mind a deep playoff run in the near future, and the national TV exposure that goes with it. And regardless of what people say, Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Smart is a much better supporting cast than what he would have in Charlotte.
 

luckiestman

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If we sign Kemba and don’t trade anyone away do we have the MLE or can we only sign folks to the minimum?
 

Gash Prex

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Little nervous this is out there now so early but I'd be happy with 90% of Kyrie with 0 drama - I think his personality fits with the young guys much better - maybe even convince Al to come back on a smaller deal (thats possible right?).
 

DJnVa

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And regardless of what people say, Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Smart is a much better supporting cast than what he would have in Charlotte.
A lot of this is optics. If the Celtics had not lost Kyrie and Al, then a team with Hayward and the 3 young guys of Smart, Brown, and Tatum would be this interesting young team on the cusp that owns a potential lottery pick in 1 of next 2 seasons from another team expected to be really bad. But almost no one sees it that way.
 

RedOctober3829

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This scenario would be very interesting. Getting Kemba and keeping the MLE would be amazing.

I'm not suggesting the C's try to S&T Horford for a TPE or a non-Kemba player. I'm suggesting that Al going to the cap space team he seems to have already agreed with via S&T could become a 3-team trade where Boston receives S&T Kemba to preserve the full MLE and Mook's rights.

https://twitter.com/dangercart/status/1144242712956342273
 

mauf

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Little nervous this is out there now so early but I'd be happy with 90% of Kyrie with 0 drama - I think his personality fits with the young guys much better - maybe even convince Al to come back on a smaller deal (thats possible right?).
You have to renounce Al’s Bird rights to make room for Kemba, so no.

Edit: Hadn’t read RO’s post. I guess my post was a little too unequivocal, but the path to signing Kemba and bringing back Al is murky at best.
 

BaseballJones

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Looks like Kemba WILL be signing with the Celtics according to the story just posted by Woj. 4 years, $141 million.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27066586/sources-celtics-front-runners-sign-kemba
Uh, that's not what the article said. It said they'll be OFFERING him that contract, and it said he's "increasingly likely to accept". The first part may be factual, but the second part is speculation. Both are a far cry from "Kemba WILL be signing with the Celtics". Though I'd love for you to be right!
 

The Social Chair

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Very exciting and I hope there is no Hayward style signing drama.

I guess a Jaylen trade is the next move if this signing happens.
 

boca

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Surprised that MJ would let a Jordan brand athlete walk out the door at Charlotte.
 

DJnVa

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Uh, that's not what the article said. It said they'll be OFFERING him that contract, and it said he's "increasingly likely to accept". The first part may be factual, but the second part is speculation. Both are a far cry from "Kemba WILL be signing with the Celtics". Though I'd love for you to be right!
He's translating Woj speak.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Also, signing Walker to the Supermax would launch the Hornets into the luxury tax. Probably not where a .500 team wants to be. They would be stuck in NBA Hell.
Charlotte has several large expiring contracts that can surely be moved prior to the final day of luxury tax calculations. This shouldn't play much of a factor when looking to re-sign your best player.

I would think they could get a serviceable big for that. No rush to trade Brown unless that individual transaction is a win.
What is the earlier date when Baynes can return to Boston? Almost feels like a wink-wink deal for Phoenix to acquire an extra 2nd rounder down the road.
 

lovegtm

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Better than Isaiah all the time. Similar to Kyrie most of the time as he gives consistent effort......I'm guessing slightly worse than Kyrie when game is on the line and/or playoff intensity.
Sounds about right to me. You also get the benefit that the other guys are more likely to play 2017-2018 defense, and not whatever the hell was going on last year.
 

luckiestman

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You guys have trade fever. Let’s keep Jaylen. Trade during the year if we have to. You can’t have too many good wings.
 

nighthob

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Indy hangs up quickly. They would want Brown’s upside/timeline at a position of need.
I think that they’d also like the return of a hometown hero. Plus as a complete non-FA destination they’d also like some help for Oladipo. I suspect Indiana’s is going to be a lot closer to Orlando’s during the Fultz trade, even if Hayward only ever returns to 90% of the player he was in Utah, that’s still better than the Pacers are generally going to do on the free agency market, and 90% of Hayward is a good running mate for their current star.
 

lovegtm

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I think that they’d also like the return of a hometown hero. Plus as a complete non-FA destination they’d also like some help for Oladipo. I suspect Indiana’s is going to be a lot closer to Orlando’s during the Fultz trade, even if Hayward only ever returns to 90% of the player he was in Utah, that’s still better than the Pacers are generally going to do on the free agency market, and 90% of Hayward is a good running mate for their current star.
I would be ecstatic if you’re right.
 

nighthob

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Honestly I’m not expecting a Hayward deal because I think that Stevens wants his player there, and Hayward’s a pretty good bet to keep getting better (as he did all of last year). I’m expecting Boston to backfill with a scrap heap big.
 

Royal Reader

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Charlotte has several large expiring contracts that can surely be moved prior to the final day of luxury tax calculations. This shouldn't play much of a factor when looking to re-sign your best player.
They have two (MKG and Wiliams). Zeller and Batum are signed for another year. They have $97m committed without Kemba and probably no-one good enough to be the fourth starter on a Championship team except him. Even if they can duck the luxury tax, they'd be committed to spending beyond the cap in a small market on a team with no prospect of being higher than a sixth seed - but with Kemba raising their floor to about sixth-worst. If Kemba walks they're probably the worst team in the NBA. Perhaps they can avoid the tax, but they'd still be in NBA purgatory.