ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Boston Celtics have emerged as the favorites to land free agent point guard Kemba Walker, as one of the most important free agent periods in sports history continues to swelter with free agency set to begin this Sunday, June 30th at 6 pm ET.
The eight-year veteran turned 29 this past May and is coming off the greatest statistical season of his career, averaging a career-high 25.6 points, to go with 5.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds.
Despite Walker appearing in three consecutive All-Star games, the Charlotte Hornets have only gone to the playoffs twice in eight seasons and finished under .500 in six of those eight years as well.
The Celtics appear to have an obvious opening at point guard with the volatile Kyrie Irving showing no signs of wanting to ever associate himself with the Celtics franchise or city of Boston ever again.
The Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks join the Celtics as the teams most likely to sign Walker, but Boston would offer Walker a clear path to a vacant point guard position, compared to a Mavericks team with Luka Doncic and a Lakers team who would obviously have ball-centric LeBron James.
Kemba can qualify for the league’s 5-year, $221 ‘Super Max’ if he stays with Charlotte, but the team reportedly is not willing to offer the rare deal for a player in Walker who most feel is not a Top 10 player.
Boston is reportedly going to offer a four-year, $141 million deal.
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