Kemba Walker spent solely two seasons with the Boston Celtics earlier than calling it a profession after 12 years within the NBA on Tuesday, however the overarching impression the four-time All-Star had in Banner 18 shouldn’t go with out recognition.
“I’m performed taking part in. It was a hell of a run,” Walker stated on the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast. “It was a run that I nonetheless can’t fathom immediately. I nonetheless can’t consider the issues I’ve performed in my basketball profession, particularly with all of the doubt that I obtained coming in. To all ranges, there was at all times doubt.”
Walker’s introduction to Boston got here at the good, though the temporary stint didn’t come rewarded with the glory of a duck boat parade.
Placing a historic eight-year tenure with the Charlotte Hornets, who chosen the UConn product ninth general within the 2011 NBA Draft, Walker, too, was seeking the following chapter of his profession. He’d already damaged Dell Curry’s (9,839 factors) scoring report in Charlotte by reaching 12,009 factors. Walker was a longtime All-Star, leaving postseason glory left to verify off; and with the Celtics within the strategy of shifting on from their ugly breakup with Kyrie Irving, the (good) alternative offered itself for Walker to grab.
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Boston already had its future in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, however the then-young up-and-coming duo nonetheless wanted a veteran chief to assist run the ground. Figuring out that amid the aftermath of the failed Irving experiment, the Celtics acquired Walker in a sign-and-trade deal, which included a four-year, $141 million payday for the 6-foot guard.
From there, Walker understood the project.
Walker embraced the inevitable struggles Tatum and Brown confronted with inheriting title expectations by means of the earliest stage of their careers. When Irving and then-co-star Gordon Hayward suffered season-ending accidents in 2017-18, Tatum and Brown led the best way and turned a missed alternative marketing campaign into an Japanese Convention finals look in opposition to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers — ending a win shy of the NBA Finals.
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That set the (unfair) precedent by which Tatum and Brown have been judged.
But, Walker gave the Celtics what Irving was by no means in a position to: an open flooring for Tatum and Brown to make errors, study, develop, and blossom into the well-established All-Star skills they’ve change into. Walker’s time in Boston led to an injury-riddled trend, prompting the entrance workplace to deal him to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder in the summertime of 2021 for Al Horford — giving the Celtics one of many a number of premier items of its 2023-24 championship.
As soon as Boston did attain the mountain and defeated the Mavericks within the finals, head coach Joe Mazzulla made positive to acknowledge these — like Walker — who weren’t there for the confetti or champagne however performed a task.
“I believe crucial factor, one thing that’s actually been going by means of my thoughts all through this course of, is you may’t lose sight of the folks that got here earlier than us,” Mazzulla stated after Boston’s series-clinching Sport 5 victory over Dallas at TD Backyard. “I need to be sure each person who’s labored for the Celtics, that’s performed for the Celtics that didn’t win, is aware of that their work and what they’ve performed has not gone unnoticed or it doesn’t play an element in the place we’re at immediately.”
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Mazzulla added: “Simply because we gained this doesn’t imply what the individuals have performed earlier than us isn’t simply as essential.”
Final season, Mazzulla and the Celtics emphasised welcoming the group’s previous roster members again, whether or not to affix the teaching workers or cease by the group’s apply facility. Contemplating Walker’s still-strong bond with Tatum, Brown and different Boston associates, maybe a return of some kind could possibly be within the works within the close to future.
