It didn’t take long for Brad Stevens to make a splash in his new job. Just two weeks after being named Danny Ainge’s successor as the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, Stevens traded Kemba Walker, a 2021 first-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round pick.
Speaking to the media via Zoom Monday morning, Stevens explained the motivation behind the trade, why he made it now instead of waiting, and why it was a “really hard” move for him to make.
“We talked about several iterations of it. We felt that one of the things we wanted was to be unencumbered moving forward and kind of have a road ahead,” Stevens said. “We have a lot of things that we have to address appropriately.
“This was really hard. This was not the ideal first-few-weeks-on-the-job move, just because of the kind of person Kemba is and the kind of professional he is and how good a player he is, and continues to be. So, a lot of hard calls. But that part with this year’s pick vs. maybe future picks, yeah that was a big driver in making this decision.”
The trade gives the Celtics a lot more financial flexibility moving forward, as it gets them out from under the final two years of Walker’s max contract, something he seemed unlikely to live up to given all his injury issues the last two years.
Following a recent report that Stevens and Walker “began to butt heads” this past season, Stevens had nothing but good things to say about Walker on Monday and reiterated that it was difficult to trade him. But Stevens also acknowledged that the financial flexibility was a key part of what he meant by being “unencumbered moving forward.”
“That’s part of the job change. It is difficult, because I really like Kemba, period. End of story. He is a super likable person,” Stevens said. “The deal was made, and I’m sure it’s been talked about on the outside, but there are a couple of things. We had to look at, with the idea of moving that first-round pick this year, it gave us the opportunity to look at a road ahead with a few more options from a financial flexibility standpoint, with all of our first-round picks past this year, which again gives you options.
“And then it was the best deal that we thought with regard to returning players. The opportunity to add Al, who makes significantly less money, but is a really good player who has corporate knowledge of this environment, that is really excited to be back in Boston, has a good feel for not only playing with our guys, but also has made them better. I think his ability to pass, his ability to play a couple of positions, but certainly to stretch the floor against bigs. His impact on others and his ability to lift others is one of his great strengths. To have the ability to get that in return and gain financial flexibility moving forward, the cost was a person you really, really like and one first-round pick.”
Stevens also explained what he sees in Brown, who had a big 21-point, 23-rebound performance against the Celtics on March 27.
“We like Moses as an upside player,” Stevens said. “Obviously we saw the best of Moses in our game, but he’s a guy who got a bigger taste of the NBA this year and had great opportunity when he did play. He put up numbers. He’s a guy that we’re excited to learn more about and work with and see how he fits with our group. I think the ability to make our wings better is going to be a huge part of what’s around them.”