The transaction wheel in the NBA never stops landing on something significant, and once again the Boston Celtics are shaking things up as the Oklahoma City Thunder acquire more first-round picks. Friday morning, the Celtics reportedly traded Kemba Walker, the 16th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, and a 2025 second-round pick to the Thunder in exchange for Al Horford, Moses Brown, and a 2023 second-round pick.
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ESPN was first to report this trade, which The Athletic has confirmed.
The Celtics were hoping to move Walker this summer, after unsuccessfully doing so last truncated offseason. With Brad Stevens now at the helm in the front office, this was his first trade. The Thunder are always trying to grab more draft capital. So how did both of these teams do in addressing their offseason goals?
Let’s dive in with the red ink and throw down some grades on each team.
Celtics acquire Al Horford, Moses Brown, 2023 second-round pick
How much does Al Horford have left in the tank and is this a good or bad sign of what Brad Stevens will be as the head of the Celtics front office? Those are the two questions that hit my mind as soon as I saw the news of this trade. Horford just turned 35 years old, and he hasn’t had a real solid season since 2018-19. In the NBA, especially for a big man, that can be eons ago. Horford was a disaster in Philadelphia two seasons ago, and he barely played this season when OKC sent him home so they could focus on the tank. Horford had nice numbers this year and he was a solid big man, but the Celtics are hoping to acquire the guy who showed up everywhere on defense for three seasons in Boston.
Horford’s return to the team maybe gives them some immediate insurance just in case Robert Williams III isn’t ready yet to be the full-time starting center. Horford is so amiable that he’ll come off the bench to fill out the depth if needed. And we know after last season, that depth is sorely needed. They’ll no longer need to hope Tristan Thompson can have a positive impact, but they will need to hope that Horford is able to give them 20-25 good minutes every night. For a guy who has made over 51 percent of his shots for his career, dropping to 45 percent each of the last two seasons is a little worrisome for potential decline. He’s posted a 53.7 percent true shooting over the last two seasons, which is a far cry from the 57.7 percent he had in Boston. But if Williams is ready to be the big guy in the middle, Horford is an expensive but effective backup.
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Now to the questions about Stevens, who took over the front office after Danny Ainge stepped down a couple of weeks ago. One of the criticisms of Tom Thibodeau as a front office decision-maker was his love for his previous players. Remember the Minnesota Timberbulls? Thibodeau went out and brought in Taj Gibson and Luol Deng and Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler to the Wolves. That was the success he knew and that was the success he was going to try to replicate around Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Thibodeau’s affinity for his former players was viewed as a detriment to his decision-making as someone with dual citizenship between the sidelines and front office.
Stevens is only the executive now, but will he think like the coach version of himself? Horford is someone he trusts and is familiar with on many levels. But does a 35-year old Horford solve their problems? And should it have cost a first-round pick in the process? It’s something to keep an eye on. What’s his eye for talent versus his eye for success nostalgia going to look like? At least the Celtics greatly improve their cap situation by not having such an expensive contract like Kemba’s. They could be saving as much as $32 million.
Additionally, I love the pickup of Moses Brown. The Thunder were very high on him and he showed a lot of nice potential during the great tanking efforts of 2021 for OKC.
Grade: B-
Thunder acquire Kemba Walker, 16th pick in 2021 draft, 2025 second-round pick
Another trade and another first-round pick for the Oklahoma City Thunder. We won’t know exactly how many first-round picks they have in this draft until the lottery happens and we find out the fate of the Houston Rockets pick. But for now, the Thunder add an additional first-round pick right in the middle of the top 30. This will give Sam Presti another chip to either move it to acquire a key player of their future or draft it to develop a key player of their future. Presti has been on a masterclass of pick acquisition over the last couple of years and this is no different.
The Thunder sat down Horford during the middle of the season because they didn’t want him to improve things too much on the court and they knew him getting hurt wasn’t going to help his trade value. And what happens? Months later, they move him for a first. Doing the same with Kemba Walker could be tricky, but I guess doubting Presti at this point might be futile. If Walker plays next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this coming season, it’ll be a great mentorship experience for SGA, sort of like what he got from Chris Paul. Maybe not quite that dramatic but Walker has a lot to teach young players. If Walker is simply going to hang out and wait to be traded, I’d expect Presti to be able to move him to a desperate team for some draft capital in return. Hell, at this point I’m expecting Presti to move any one of us for at least a second-round pick.
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The Thunder keep making moves to help them in the rebuild. It costs them a little extra money here, but they’re hoping the 16th pick yields a player better than what Moses Brown ends up being.
Grade: B+
Related Reading
Hollinger: Brad Stevens’ first deal as Celtics GM opens question of what’s next
Jay King: Brad Stevens has a lot of work left to do
Jared Weiss: How does coaching carousel impact Celtics’ search?
(Photo: Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
Zach Harper is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering the NBA. Zach joined The Athletic after covering the NBA for ESPN.com, CBS Sports and FRS Sports since 2009. He also hosts radio for SiriusXM NBA and SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio. Follow Zach on Twitter @talkhoops
