The Boston Celtics were at the center of a huge trade that happened amid the NBA playoffs, which is a bit of a rarity. While other players and picks were involved, the headline of the deal was that it sent Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder and brought Al Horford back to Boston.
Walker’s tenure with the franchise was certainly solid, but it never quite reached the heights that one would anticipate a player of his caliber could reach. Of course, his knee problems were the major reason for this, but a new piece by Jared Weiss of The Athletic indicates all was not well in the Celtics’ locker room. In fact, the issues this past season may have played a role in costing the team some frontcourt reinforcements after Blake Griffin was bought out by the Detroit Pistons.
According to a source, Brooklyn’s Blake Griffin asked a Celtics player if he should join the team midseason and was told not to come to Boston because of the apparent dysfunction.
Griffin, of course, went on to join the Brooklyn Nets and has turned into an important piece of their puzzle during their postseason run. It’s probably safe to say he would not have single-handedly changed the course of Boston’s season — even if he would have helped their frontcourt considerably — but it’s pretty eyebrow-raising that the situation with the Celtics got to this point.