Nobody questions whether Lonnie Walker IV had a good training camp and preseason with the Celtics. “He had a great training camp … I liked his work ethic. I liked his attitude,” coach Joe Mazzulla said.
That was not enough to keep him on the roster to open the season. Walker could not perform well enough to climb the financial mountain in front of him, so the Celtics are waiving him, an unsurprising story that was officially broken by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
With Boston already over the NBA’s second tax apron, it would have cost nearly $11 million in salary and luxury taxes to keep Walker in the 15th spot on the roster. That’s too much for a player expected to be on the fringe of the rotation (at best). Because of the cost, it has become commonplace around the NBA to leave a team’s 15th roster spot open to start the season and use two-way players to cover that depth.
Walker averaged 7.3 points a game and shot 31.3% from 3 in his four preseason games.
Another team could choose to sign Walker as a free agent. If that does not happen, he likely signs with the Maine Red Claws (the Celtics’ G-League affiliate) and waits to potentially be called up.
