Kemba Walker Opens Up About Being Traded By Celtics, Joining Knicks

The Celtics in 2019 signed Kemba Walker with the hopes of stabilizing their point guard position in a major way.

The investment did not pan out, to say the least.

After a pair of underwhelming seasons by his standards, Walker in June was traded by Boston to Oklahoma City in a blatant salary dump. The Thunder proceeded to buy out the four-time All-Star, who signed with the Knicks earlier this month.

Walker held his introductory New York press conference Tuesday and touched on his Boston departure.

“I definitely feel like Boston believed in me, but they traded me,” Walker told reporters, per The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov. “So, you know. I don’t think that they didn’t believe in me. … My home team, the Knicks, they believed in me.”

Walker also noted that his final season with the C’s, which was marred by injuries and poor play, will be used as added motivation moving forward.

The veteran point guard wasn’t the only former Celtic to be officially introduced as a Knick on Tuesday. Walker was joined by Evan Fournier, who ultimately was moved to New York through a sign-and-trade with Boston.