Kemba Walker spent only two seasons with the Boston Celtics before calling it a career after 12 years in the NBA on Tuesday, but the overarching impact the four-time All-Star had in Banner 18 shouldn’t go without recognition.
“I’m done playing. It was a hell of a run,” Walker said on the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast. “It was a run that I still can’t fathom today. I still can’t believe the things I’ve done in my basketball career, especially with all the doubt that I got coming in. To all levels, there was always doubt.”
Walker’s introduction to Boston came at the perfect, although the brief stint didn’t come rewarded with the glory of a duck boat parade.
Putting a historic eight-year tenure with the Charlotte Hornets, who selected the UConn product ninth overall in the 2011 NBA Draft, Walker, too, was in search of the next chapter of his career. He’d already broken Dell Curry’s (9,839 points) scoring record in Charlotte by reaching 12,009 points. Walker was an established All-Star, leaving postseason glory left to check off; and with the Celtics in the process of moving on from their ugly breakup with Kyrie Irving, the (perfect) opportunity presented itself for Walker to seize.
Boston already had its future in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but the then-young up-and-coming duo still needed a veteran leader to help run the floor. Identifying 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 assignment.
Walker embraced the inevitable struggles Tatum and Brown faced with inheriting title expectations through the earliest stage of their careers. When Irving and then-co-star Gordon Hayward suffered season-ending injuries in 2017-18, Tatum and Brown led the way and turned a missed opportunity campaign into an Eastern Conference finals appearance against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers — finishing a win shy of the NBA Finals.
That set the (unfair) precedent by which Tatum and Brown were judged.
Yet, Walker gave the Celtics what Irving was never able to: an open floor for Tatum and Brown to make mistakes, learn, grow, and blossom into the well-established All-Star talents they’ve become. Walker’s time in Boston ended in an injury-riddled fashion, prompting the front office to deal him to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2021 for Al Horford — giving the Celtics one of the several premier pieces of its 2023-24 championship.
Once Boston did reach the mountain and defeated the Mavericks in the finals, head coach Joe Mazzulla made sure to recognize those — like Walker — who weren’t there for the confetti or champagne but played a role.
“I think the most important thing, something that’s really been going through my mind throughout this process, is you can’t lose sight of the people that came before us,” Mazzulla said after Boston’s series-clinching Game 5 victory over Dallas at TD Garden. “I want to make sure every person that’s worked for the Celtics, that’s played for the Celtics that didn’t win, knows that their work and what they have done has not gone unnoticed or it doesn’t play a part in where we are at today.”
Mazzulla added: “Just because we won this doesn’t mean what the people have done before us isn’t just as important.”
Last season, Mazzulla and the Celtics emphasized welcoming the organization’s past roster members back, whether to join the coaching staff or stop by the team’s practice facility. Considering Walker’s still-strong bond with Tatum, Brown and other Boston affiliates, perhaps a return of some sort could be in the works in the near future.
