Kemba Walker's return to Charlotte was everything a player could expect after giving eight years of service to an NBA franchise. The new Boston Celtics guard struggled in the first half, failing to convert a field goal, but thrived in the second, helping the Celtics get the bragging rights over his former team, the Charlotte Hornets.
Walker's mother Andrea explained her son's divorce with the Hornets was a nasty but necessary one for his career:
“He wants to win,” Andrea Walker told Abby Chin of NBC Sports Boston during the third quarter of the Celtics' 108-87 win over the Hornets. “He’s a winner. Staying in Charlotte was kind of slowing him up, and I think it was just time for a change. It was a nasty divorce, but it was a well-deserved divorce.”
Walker had winner-like stats during his time in Charlotte, but the Hornets simply didn't have the right supporting cast to help his cause. Even to the last few days before free agency, the organization seemed more concerned with saving tax dollars than putting out a winning product — something that forced Walker to walk back his commitment to staying with the Hornets and look for better opportunities.
Boston had just lost Kyrie Irving and was in the market for another top-tier point guard, making Walker the no-brainer choice to make following his “nasty divorce” with the Hornets.