Fred VanVleet, Rockets Agree To Three-Year, $130M Deal

The Boston Celtics are waiving guard Lonnie Walker IV. Boston had signed Walker to a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract earlier this offseason.

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla praised Walker’s work with the team during training camp and the preseason. However, keeping the veteran guard would have cost the Celtics $11 million in salary plus tax penalties.

Walker recently said he knew the situation when he agreed to a non-guaranteed camp deal with Boston. He also said he was willing to play for the Maine Celtics of the G League, if he couldn’t find another NBA roster spot. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was honest with Walker before signing him that it would be hard to crack the regular season roster, due to Boston’s depth and their tax situation.

For weeks, the Toronto Raptors have been widely considered to be the team that will control the trade deadline and that appears to still be the case now that were mere days away from February 9th.

“The whole league is in a circle around the Raptors, watching what they’re going to do,” said Brian Windhorst.

The Raptors are in a position to trade multiple players that could help shift the balance of power among title contenders, particularly OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. The Raptors are widely expected to not consider trading Pascal Siakam.

“To me, the whole deadline pivots on the Raptors,” said Windhorst.