“Brad Stevens stepped foot in management role and made power moves”: Kendrick Perkins grades Kemba Walker trade as a plus for Celtics

Kendrick Perkins praises Brad Stevens for his ‘power move’ as the newly appointed GM trades Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Following their first-round elimination at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets, the Boston Celtics seem to be in a revamp mode. The Celtics have traded their All-star point guard Kemba Walker, the No. 16 overall pick in this year’s draft, and a 2025 second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round draft pick.   

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The Celtics had high expectations from Kemba Walker when they signed him in 2019, a point at which he was one of the best point guards in the league. However, the 31-year-old was unable to deliver, for the most part suffering from multiple nagging injuries.

Walker ended up missing 29 games this year despite having missed a bunch last season dealing with his knee injuries. Unfortunately, even with intensive load-management in the latter half of this season, Kemba was forced to sit out for Game 4 and 5 in the first round playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets, which led to an early exit for the Celtics.

According to sources, the Celtics tried to trade Kemba for Jrue Holiday last summer. The deal never came through but the news of Danny Ainge attempting to trade Kemba left the latter feeling unwanted, further souring their relations.   

Kendrick Perkins believes the decision to trade Kemba will prove to be a success for the Celtics 

In a recent appearance on The Undisputed, ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins came out in support of Brad Stevens’ decision to trade Kemba Walker. He believes this is the right step towards creating a strong team around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. 

“He’s telling Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown this is your team. Now you don’t have to worry about oh can Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, can they play together, who’s going to share the ball? How can you make this work? We don’t have to worry about that now.”  

Big Perk went onto highlight the fact that bringing back Al Horford can only be good for the Celtics – particularly because Horford is not only instrumental at spreading the floor, but also has great leadership qualities.  

“He brings value to their team, he stretches the floor, he’s a great leader. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum love big Al.”  

Talking about Moses Brown, KP believes other players in the G-league and those aspiring to play in the NBA should be encouraged looking at his journey from the G- League to a formidable Celtics roster.  

After averaging 18.5 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 26.4 minutes per game this season, Brown was chosen to the All-NBA G League First Team along with being named to the NBA G League All-Defensive Team.  

All said and done the Celtics now have a little more flexibility with their salary cap avoiding the 73 million owed to Kemba by trading in Horford. It is speculated that the Celtics front office might make a few more instrumental changes in the roster, hoping for a much better season next year.

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