The NBA offseason trades have officially kicked off with the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder. What exactly happened? Boston received Al Horford, Moses Brown, and a 2023 2nd round pick, while OKC received Kemba Walker, the 16th pick in the 2021 draft, and a 2025 2nd round pick. Okay so for the Celtics they trade away Kemba who just let’s be honest isn’t the same player he once was and doesn’t fit the team. They bring in two centers and fix their big man problem with now having 3 playable centers. A projected lineup of Smart, Brown, Nesmith, Tatum, and Williams/Horford with Pritchard, Moses, one of Horford/Robert, and hopefully you resign Even Fournier to play a key 6 man role. The only con to this trade is that they lose the 16th pick in a very nice draft. Now for the Thunder, they bring in Kemba who is not the same player he was but can still be productive, and in OKC that would later either see Kemba and Shai help OKC to a play in push or Kemba traded for more assets to add to the Thunder’s rebuild. They lose out on a nice young center in Moses Brown but I believe he may be seen a bit too overhyped by some fans due to a couple of his games nevertheless he will be nice for the Celtics. The main asset the Thunder got is that 16th pick that at this point of time may be more valuable than a 35-year-old Al Horford. This draft class has about 18-20 lottery-worthy guys and getting that pick can be huge for the Thunder’s future.
Responses
This trade confused me a lot for both sides. Even though it freed up a ton of space, there is no way Kemba AND a 2021 first is only worth Al Horford and Moses brown. If the Thunder trade Kemba, then it will make more sense but I don’t see Kemba as a part of their rebuilding timeline.