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The Boston Celtics had talks with the Brooklyn Nets and Charlotte Hornets to execute a three-team trade which would have sent Kyrie Irving to Brooklyn, Terry Rozier to Charlotte and Kemba Walker to Boston, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. The deal might have convinced Al Horford to stay with the Celtics.
Horford recently told the Boston Herald his free agency decision “would have been totally different” had he known Walker was signing with the Celtics.
To stay within collective bargaining and salary cap regulations, the Celtics would have had to execute a three-way trade that got Kyrie Irving to Brooklyn, Terry Rozier to Charlotte and Walker to the Celtics. The Nets could get Irving without any help, and no doubt they would have wanted something of value in exchange for doing the Celts a favor.
Sources indicated that such talks took place, and while nothing ever got to the point where a final agreement could take place, Brooklyn had a price, and it could have been met.
Horford signed a four-year, $109 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers this summer, ending his three-year run with the Celtics.
Walker, as part of a sign-and-trade deal with the Hornets, agreed to a four-year deal with the Celtics this offseason. Rozier was sent to Charlotte, while Irving signed with the Nets.
