Celtics waive Lonnie Walker IV

The Celtics waived Lonnie Walker IV right now 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 sphere 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 arduous. You may inform he has loads of ardour. Thats my man clearly.”

Luke Kornet mentioned after follow, “I like Lonnie. He’s an incredible participant. His power, pleasure, and fervour…I by no means received 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 taking part in our model of basketball.” He continued, “I believed he did a superb job of executing that within the time that he had, I believed he did an incredible job being affected person, executing the function we wanted him to.”

When requested about making roster choices with Brad Stevens, Mazzulla added, “we discuss on daily basis, we talk on daily basis, not essentially collaborate on the choice, however collaborate on the alternatives and the issues which are there on both facet of the coin. On the finish of the day, he does an incredible job making choices, we belief our determination, and we do talk on daily basis about the place we expect issues are and we go from there.”

The writing was seemingly on the wall for Walker as he didn’t play within the Celtics closing preseason sport on Tuesday in opposition to the Raptors, however folks had been holding out hope that he might nonetheless discover his means 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 the moment 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 could 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 function participant within the NBA and has had success contributing to a playoff crew previously. The Celtics might deliver him up in some unspecified time in the future throughout the season if he decides to affix the Maine Celtics, nevertheless 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’ll assume it wouldn’t be an issue in the event that they added a little bit extra for Walker, however I suppose Celtics possession didn’t see it that means.

Lonnie Walker is an excellent participant on this league and it could 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 could be becoming a member of a fairly stacked crew and could possibly be the face of top-of-the-line G League groups on paper.

Hopefully, we will 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 means, I hope he will get one other shot to indicate what he can do.