Kemba Walker has missed out on enough postseasons during his eight years with the Charlotte Hornets, looking to finally turn the page with the Boston Celtics. The 6-foot-1 dynamo has idly watched other point guards compete in the playoffs, but he knows doing so again at the end of this 2019-20 season would be falling well short of the expectations in Bean Town.

“I need it,” Walker would think back on his couch-watching days, according to Jay King of The Athletic. “I need to be there.”

“They expect so much,” said Walker of Celtics fans. “And that’s what I appreciate for sure. I want to be a part of that. These guys are used to winning and are used to being in the playoffs, making deep runs in the playoffs. That’s something that I’ve never been fortunate to be a part of. And that’s why I’m here.”

Walker has only made two trips to the postseason throughout his eight-year career, never getting past the first round. That alone was a huge part of his decision to turn away from the Hornets, who offered him a five-year, $160 million contract in the offseason, and bolt for the Celtics' four-year, $141 million offer — despite taking a sizable monetary loss.

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The Celtics offered the possibility of making the playoffs and competing for high stakes, something he's been looking to do for his entire career.

“That’s the most intense basketball you’re going to see, the NBA playoffs,” Walker said. “That’s just — I want to be a part of that. I want to be a part of something super intense. I just can’t wait. I can’t wait.”

“I can’t wait to feel just the ground shaking from the intensity from the fans and shit like that. Yeah, I’m geeked. I can’t wait.”

Walker's giddiness for the playoffs will come at the cost of continued scrutiny and microanalysis in a sports city like Boston, but these are all parts of the game he seems to welcome in hopes to further his career and be part of a contender.