Celtics waive Lonnie Walker IV

The Celtics waived Lonnie Walker IV at the moment after he signed an Exhibit 10 contract this offseason. Walker can now go to the G-League and be a part of the Maine Celtics or signal with one other crew.

In 4 video games with the Celtics this preseason, Lonnie Walker averaged 7.3 factors, 2.5 assists, 1.5 rebounds, taking pictures 42.8% from the sector and 31.2% from three-point vary.

When requested about Walker, Derrick White, who was a teammate with Walker in San Antonio, mentioned, “Nice man. Works onerous. You can inform he has numerous ardour. Thats my man clearly.”

Luke Kornet mentioned after apply, “I really like Lonnie. He’s a fantastic participant. His power, pleasure, and keenness…I by no means bought the chance to know him carefully till these previous few weeks and he’s been nice to have round. A pleasure to play with and a pleasure to work with.”

Joe Mazzulla was additionally requested about Walker being waived. Mazzulla mentioned, “he got here in along with his head down and simply wished to work and to have an understanding of what it’s like enjoying our type of basketball.” He continued, “I believed he did an excellent job of executing that within the time that he had, I believed he did a fantastic job being affected person, executing the position we wanted him to.”

When requested about making roster selections with Brad Stevens, Mazzulla added, “we discuss daily, we talk daily, not essentially collaborate on the choice, however collaborate on the alternatives and the issues which might be there on both aspect of the coin. On the finish of the day, he does a fantastic job making selections, we belief our resolution, and we do talk daily about the place we predict issues are and we go from there.”

The writing was seemingly on the wall for Walker as he didn’t play within the Celtics ultimate preseason recreation on Tuesday towards the Raptors, however individuals had been holding out hope that he may nonetheless discover his approach on to the roster. Nevertheless, the Celtics determined to waive him, leaving the fifteenth roster spot open.

The Celtics primarily save $11 million by waiving Walker as that’s how a lot Boston must pay in the event that they signed him to a veteran minimal contract. The Celtics at present have a tax multiplier of $3.75 for each $1 they spend over the wage cap. In the event that they signed Walker, the multiplier can be pushed to $4.25 for each $1 and a veteran minimal contract of about $2.1 million would have about an additional $8.8 million in taxes added to it.

Personally, I really feel just like the Celtics ought to have signed Walker. He’s a confirmed position participant within the NBA and has had success contributing to a playoff crew previously. The Celtics may convey him up in some unspecified time in the future in the course of the season if he decides to hitch the Maine Celtics, however it nonetheless would have been good to have him on the crew now. Boston is already spending 1 / 4 of a billion {dollars} on participant salaries this season so you’d assume it wouldn’t be an issue in the event that they added somewhat extra for Walker, however I suppose Celtics possession didn’t see it that approach.

Lonnie Walker is an excellent participant on this league and it will not shock me if he indicators with one other crew shortly after being waived by the Celtics. If he does be a part of Maine nonetheless, he can be becoming a member of a fairly stacked crew and might be the face of top-of-the-line G League groups on paper.

Hopefully, we are able to see Lonnie Walker in Boston once more in some unspecified time in the future this season climate as a member of the Celtics or for an additional crew. Both approach, I hope he will get one other shot to point out what he can do.