The Symbiosis of Kemba Walker and the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics already have their next All-Star caliber point guard. On July 6th, the same day that they will officially lose Kyrie Irving, the Celtics are expected to sign free agent, Kemba Walker. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnorowski, Walker is planning to be in Boston on June 30th to finalize a 4 year contract worth $141 Million. Although the deal is not official and cannot be until July 6th, it is all but a done deal for Walker to take over where Irving left off.

However, the Celtics and their fans can only hope that Walker will remove the dirty taste Irving left in their collective mouth after this past season. With that said, it seems as though this is a perfect match for Walker and the Celtics. On the Celtics’ side of things, they gave up several assets for Kyrie Irving and essentially only got a good deal of frustration in return. This is not a great look for the organization, but everyone will forget all about it when they introduce a new All-Star point guard who is almost on the same level as Irving. Walker should also keep the Celtics at a similar level of competitiveness that will satisfy both the Celtics’ brass and their fans.

(Side Note: It also keeps the Celtics from overpaying an extremely overrated Terry Rozier, but that’s just my opinion.)

Now, looking at Kemba Walker, this is a massive step forward for his career. He’s spent his entire career playing in Charlotte for the Bobcats/Hornets. This is not an ideal location for his brand, and more importantly not an ideal location to win. Charlotte is a bottom 10 market in the NBA, and has only made the playoffs twice since Walker was drafted in 2011, both resulting in first round exits. Walker has been an All-Star in his past 3 seasons, as well as making the All-NBA 3rd Team in 2019. Guess what? They didn’t make the playoffs in any of those seasons. There was an incredible lack of talent around Kemba in Charlotte. Not to mention Charlotte’s lack of willingness to offer Walker, their franchise’s all-time leading scorer, a maximum contract.

In summary, the Celtics get to stay competitive and replace an All-NBA caliber player that is a locker room cancer, with an All-NBA caliber player that was the NBA’s 2017 and 2018 “Sportsmanship Award” recipient. It also allows for Walker to be removed from the constant mediocrity that is the Charlotte Hornets. The Boston Celtics and Kemba Walker are a match made in heaven.