The Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League affiliate, officially announced their training camp roster this weekend ahead of the 2024/25 NBAGL season. The roster features several players who were in camp with the NBA team earlier this month, including Ron Harper Jr., Jay Scrubb, Tristan Enaruna, and Dmytro Skapintsev.
However, there’s one notable absence among the players waived by the Celtics during the preseason: Lonnie Walker.
Walker’s contract with Boston included a $77.5K Exhibit 10 bonus that he could earn by spending at least 60 days with Maine, and he said in September that he was “perfectly fine” with the idea of playing in the G League. But it appears as if he’s still weighing his choices.
While playing in the G League may be the most logical path back to the NBA for Walker, there are other options available to him this season. The veteran wing was rumored last week to be drawing interest from Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Nets center Nic Claxton, who was sidelined by a hamstring injury during the preseason, has come off the bench in the first two games of the regular season and has been on a strict minutes limit, logging 15 minutes on Wednesday and 20 on Friday. That limit will increase again on Sunday, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. As Lewis writes in a full story, it sounds like head coach Jordi Fernandez will only reinsert Claxton into the starting five once he’s been cleared for a starter’s workload. “Obviously, you can be creative. But if you go to starter minutes, then it’s somewhere around low 30s, because I think if you do more, health is an issue,” Fernandez said. “But for me, starters usually play starting at 24 all the way to 33-34, that range.”
- Josh Hart struggled to find his fit in the Knicks‘ new-look starting five during the preseason, but those frustrations haven’t carried over to the regular season, writes Andrew Crane of The New York Post. After scoring 20 points on Friday in the team’s first win of the season, Hart made light of his preseason comment about feeling “lost” on offense. “I was just having fun with y’all, man,” he told reporters. “I knew I was going to be solid. It was preseason. I have a good feel for everybody. I think we’re all really getting into a rhythm offensively and, more importantly, defensively — playing with each other, seeing where everyone likes the ball and those kind of things. I’m good.”
- A lawsuit filed by ex-Clippers strength and conditioning coach Randy Shelton against his former team opens an old wound for Raptors fans, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. The suit alleges the Clippers conducted an extensive recruitment of Leonard during his time in Toronto that “leapt well beyond the bounds of the NBA constitution” and included sending then-assistant GM Mark Hughes to about 75% of the Raptors’ games in 2018/19. Leonard, whose desire to play in Southern California was widely known, left Toronto for L.A. in 2019 immediately after winning a title with the Raptors.
Kawhi Leonard is one of the exemplars of player enpowerment.
In the old days, you went where you were sent or were drafted. You were a part of that team and you played hard without much complaint, and you had the career you had. The greats were great wherever they played. Some got to play in their hometowns, most didn’t. Some won titles, others didn’t.
To be fair, there were definitely players “back then” that let their coaches and team executives know when they weren’t happy with things. Kareem sure did. But it was a different era.
Kawhi is someone who did not want to stay with San Antonio, forced the trade out of San Antonio, then forced the trade to L.A. He won two titles, but may never win another. But – he wanted to play in L.A. and got to. He made of tons of money, and will continue to regardless of how much he plays for the Clippers going forward.
He blew up San Antonio’s plans, but it worked out well for him going forward, and SA got Wemby and will back in the thick of things soon enough. But- it was certainly player-first and not team-first. SA fans will never get over that, after the Tim/Manu/Tony era where the players “got over themselves” for the good of the team.
Chamberlain wanted out of Philly, Moses was a vagabond,Shaq had his say and the list goes on Ted. Duncan and Robinson got to San Antonio via the franchise sucked or tanked. Superstars want rings… Eventually. Your points are pointless.