Celtics rumors: 3 moves Brad Stevens should make this offseason

2. Celtics must move on from Kemba Walker

In the 2019 offseason, the Celtics answered the departure of Kyrie Irving by signing Kemba Walker to a four-year, $141 million maximum contract. After two seasons, we have a general idea of how Walker fits on this team. And simply put — it’s not the right fit.

Walker is beloved by fans around New England from his days with UCONN and was welcomed with open arms. Unfortunately, Walker’s health has been a real deterrent to him over his first two seasons with the team and makes him expendable moving forward.

In two seasons with the team, Walker has played 99 regular season games averaging 19.9 points per game and 4.8 assists. While those numbers are not bad by any stretch, they’re nowhere near the amount that he is being paid and he hasn’t always been the player he was in Charlotte. His performances in the playoffs also haven’t been much to write home about, despite the Celtics making it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020.

He has become expendable with his contract being the major problem and the fit not being as complete as fans would hope. That’s the business here. While Stevens and Walker likely have a connection, Stevens must do what is best with the team. Packaging Walker with a tempting asset like the rising Romeo Langford could help bring in another star to this team, which is the biggest need to seriously contend moving forward.

Walker is a good team guy, but it’s time to move on.