The Magician is back at it again. OKC Thunder VP of Basketball Operations, Sam Presti has moved another vet, obtained an All-Star along with his typical requirement — a few draft picks.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN dropped the Woj bomb shortly after 9:00 am this morning. Al Horford and Moses Brown head to Boston as well as the Thunder 2023 second-round pick.
Coming back is Kemba Walker, the Celtics 16th pick from this NBA Draft and a second-round pick in 2025.
OKC Thunder trade Horford and Brown for Walker and draft picks
It’s a case of everything old is new again for Al Horford as he heads back to the Celtics. The big man arrived in OKC via Philly last December. The experiment to pair him as Joel Embiid’s frontcourt partner never worked so he was jettisoned to the tanking Thunder.
In fairness, Horford was extremely professional and much like Chris Paul before him proved he’s still a solid two-way player.
Initially, OKC sat Horford on the second games of back-to=back sets but given OKC’s overachievement, he was a healthy scratch for the final 28 games of the 2020-21 season. Horford made 28 appearances averaging 14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game.
The irony of this deal is the Celtics were so invested in getting Kemba Walker in free agency, Danny Ainge failed to ensure Horford was committed to returning to Boston. Daniel Theis did a commendable job in the first season while youngster Robert Williams took over this past campaign. But, make no mistake the Celtics never looked as strong as they did with Al.
That this is Brad Stevens’ first deal as the Celtics GM isn’t surprising. As head coach he had a front-row seat to experience what the loss of Horford meant.
Boston ranked sixth defensively in Horford’s final season but fell to 13th this season. Moreover, to contend in the East, teams need defenders capable of stopping Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, and Joel Embiid. That could be why Moses Brown is also included to offer depth and rebounding. His contract runs through the next two seasons with $27 million and $26.5 million owed.
Brown was upgraded from a two-way contract to a full varsity deal with Presti inking him to an economical 4 year $6.79 million offer. The big man averaged 8.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in 43 games this season.
As for the 2023 second-round pick, the Thunder won’t miss out as they have two others they can utilize.
Kemba Walker traded to OKC Thunder
Coming to the OKC Thunder is Kemba Walker who fell out of favor with Stevens. The former All-Star missed the first 11 games of the season while he recovered from an offseason knee treatment. Boston rested him in back-to-back sets and he missed nine of the final 15 games.
Despite ongoing knee issues Walker averaged 19.3 points, 4.9 assists, 4.0 boards, and 1.1 steals. His production fell off in the playoffs to 12.7 points, 4.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 0.3 steals. That seemed to be the final straw for the Celtics as this regression wasn’t against a top defensive team but against the defensively challenged Nets.
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Again, in fairness, Walker was nursing an injury and appeared in only three playoff games. No doubt, Presti is hoping for a similar effect that Chris Paul experienced in OKC. The VP is becoming so adept at flipping talent for upgrades and draft picks there’s good reason to believe he can do it again.
In the interim, Walker has a reputation of being loved by his teammates so will have a positive effect on and off the court. Plus while he’s in OKC he’ll provide yet another mentor for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to absorb lessons from.
His salary is a bit of an albatross with $36 million owed next season and $37.6 M in 2022-23 although the latter is a player option. Walker spent eight seasons in Charlotte reaching the playoffs on just two occasions. That was a huge part of his decision to leave for Boston. To that end, that fact will provide motivation for him to produce in order to replicate a similar result to CP3
The other big part of the deal is two draft picks that come to OKC. The first is the Celtics 16th pick this season as well as a 2025 second-round pick. The Thunder will learn their draft position for the other two first-round picks on Tuesday when the NBA Draft Lottery takes place.