The 2024-25 NBA season has barely begun and the Boston Celtics are already starting to face the consequences of their offseason binge. On Tuesday, veteran guard Lonnie Walker IV decided to—at least temporarily—part ways with the NBA, declining to sign a contract with the G League Maine Red Claws and instead joining the EuroLeague’s BC Zalgiris Kaunus.
“I’m only 25,” Walker posted on X, addressing his NBA fans, adding “all in due time.”
The Boston Celtics signed the 2018 first-round draft pick to a one-year contract back in August and he impressed in the preseason, particularly in a 20-point performance against the Toronto Raptors. If there were no other factors, the Celtics would have loved to add him to the roster. However, because the Celtics were over the luxury cap, he would have cost the team $10 million so they made the difficult decision to cut him.
Boston was hoping to make room for him on the roster, but they were unable to make the subsequent financial move (possibly trading Jaden Springer) to make it a realistic possibility. Walker’s Exhibit 10 contract would have paid him $77,500 but he’s a good enough player that he could make far more than that overseas.
As John Milton’s famous line goes, “’better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven.” Ultimately it made more sense for Walker to show off his skills with a foreign club that offered greater opportunities than to toil in the NBA’s minor leagues, where players play for relatively small wages in front of mostly modest crowds.
Walker is, clearly, an NBA-caliber player right now. Last year, he played 58 games with the Brooklyn Nets, where he averaged 9.7 points while shooting 42.3% from the field. If he was good enough that the Celtics were desperately trying to come up with ways to keep him on the roster, it should be obvious that he could provide immediate help to any team in the league.
Walker is not a draft bust, it’s just that he hasn’t proven himself to be a starter. So, early in the season, teams would rather take chances on younger, cheaper unknown quantities than proven bench players who would cost more. These also happen to be exactly the types of players that historically flourish overseas, making this a rather easy decision for Walker from a professional standpoint.
Walker could be back in the league sooner rather than later. Walker has a buyout clause on February 18, and if he impresses with Zalgiris Kaunas there’s a very good chance that by then NBA teams could line up for his services by then. After all, there’s a reason why young unproven talent is so cheap, a lot of those players end up not being NBA-ready.
That would be after the February 8 trade deadline, when the Celtics could be one of those teams in need of reinforcements. If Walker ends up being a factor on another NBA franchise before the end of the season, he could end up being the first casualty of Boston’s offseason contract splurge.
The Celtics went all-in on re-signing their free agents this summer, hoping to bring back nearly the entirety of the lineup that just helped them win their second championship of the 21st century. It was a sensible decision, but one that pushed them over the luxury tax’s second apron in and will make it extremely difficult for them to spend additional money for the foreseeable future
Now, not being able to keep Walker probably won’t end up hurting the Celtics too much. Usually, the 15th man on the roster doesn’t determine whether a team will fall short of winning a title or not, but in the long term this lack of flexibility could end up being the team’s Achilles heel. The “repeater” tag, in other words, could end up being the difference between whether these Celtics end up repeating or not.
