So Who Do We Think Danny Ainge Told Kemba Walker To Recruit During All Star Weekend? An Investigation

When you become the starting point guard of the Boston Celtics there are certain responsibilities that you have to accept. If you look back all the way back to the Rajon Rondo years, this team has had some pretty incredible point guard play for the past 10+ years. Rondo won a title and made four All Star teams, four All NBA Defense teams and even an All NBA team. They transitioned from that to Isaiah Thomas, who had maybe the most insane 2.5 year offensive run this franchise has ever seen. He made two All Star games, and an All NBA team. Then we went to Kyrie, and while you may hate him he still made two All Star teams and an All NBA team during his tenure here. So as you can see, when you sign on to play point guard for this franchise, there is a certain level of expectation that your production is going to match up with these previous point guards.

So far, Kemba is doing just that with his 21.8/4.1/5.0 on 42/39% splits with 3.4 3PM a night. The production part is there, but that is only half the story. You see the other responsibility you have as the starting point guard of this team is every All Star Break Danny Ainge is going to give you an assignment, and it is your job to close the deal. Nobody, and I mean nobody was better at this than Isaiah, the man was one of the all time great closers when it came to recruiting. Let's not forget what we was able to accomplish

2 for 2. Ainge sent Isaiah his assignment and he took it from there. The team you are enjoying right now is largely due to the recruiting Isaiah did over the All Star break and you'll never convince me otherwise.

Now it wasn't all good. Kyrie clearly took his assignment

and gave Ainge a giant middle finger. We all know Ainge lusted after AD for years and unleashing his star point guard probably gave him the impression that this was a done deal. It was Kyrie's job to ensure AD would sign an extension so he could be comfortable trading Jaylen/Tatum for him. As we know that obviously didn't happen, Kyrie bolted and that was that. 

Which brings us to Kemba. He gives off vibes that are way closer to Isaiah than Kyrie, he loves being here, he loves this team and this franchise, he loves Brad, so naturally the recruiting assignment was going to be back in action this weekend. The only question is who would Ainge target? It's not as simple as you think given what their cap situation looks like for the foreseeable future, but I've never allowed that to distract me from trying to figure out what Ainge is up to. You have to think outside the box when it comes to uncovering a Danny Ainge master plan, so that's what I'm prepared to do. We had some candidates that we have photo/video evidence from, and part of me knows this went on because there was waaaaaaaaaay less in terms of what was caught on camera this year as opposed to previous Ainge missions. He tried to keep this shit under wraps which tells me the recruiting was out in full force.

So who could have been the target? Let's have a look

Donovan Mitchell

OK now here is where you need to think outside the box. The Celtics do not need Donovan Mitchell right now. That's not what this move would be about. Remember, Mitchell has talked over and over about how Kemba is basically his idol. I am of the thought that this seed was planted way back in the summer during Team USA

and the idea isn't that Mitchell joins this group now. No no, the big brain theory is that the plan is for Mitchell to fill Kemba's spot for the next era. Just look at the facts. After this season Kemba Walker will have 3 more seasons and will be an UFA at the age of 33 in 2024. Chances are Donovan Mitchell is going to sign his rookie extension before next season, so you add 4 more years to that, he could have 1 year left before UFA in 2024 if my math is correct. If the Jazz know Mitchell is leaving, they'll have to trade him a year early, just like we've seen with other star players. Enter Danny Ainge. Let's say that doesn't happen and Mitchell ends up hitting the market in 2025. You know who will probably need a point guard by then and should have cap space? The Boston Celtics. By then both Jays are going to be a year or two away from their prime, and the next wave is Mitchell/Tatum/Jaylen. Boom. 

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Kawhi Leonard

OK I'll be honest, I'm not sure how Ainge pulls this one off. Kawhi does have his player option in 2021-22 in his age 30 season, but I have no idea how Ainge makes this money work given he's going to have zero space to add a max player. Unless they plan on trading one of the Jays or even Kemba himself, the math here is all sorts of fucked up.

But who cares about math. That shit is stupid. I trust if this is going to happen then Ainge will find a way to make it all work. Mike Zarren is pretty much the smartest person on the planet and can do things with a spreadsheet that will make your head spin. To me, this was maybe the secondary assignment. Just a little check in with Kawhi to let him know how good things are in Boston. I would imagine Kawhi's mainframe is hard as hell to hack into, but I give Ainge/Kemba credit for trying.

Joel Embiid

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Another one that is extremely far fetched and 99.9% not likely, but that 0.1% we cannot ignore. You saw the chemistry between these two on that one play. Kemba gave Embiid a taste of what it's like to play with a real point guard. Add in all the drama surrounding Embiid and the Sixers and their future, just keep this in your back pocket. 

The contracts and money don't exactly work but again, ignore things like facts and reason right now. That's not what we're doing. Instead, realize that Embiid is an UFA in Kemba's last season and it makes you think.

We'll know soon enough who the target was, I'm also not ruling out that the assignment was not a player who participated in any event, but someone who was just in Chicago for the festivities. This is where Danny Ainge plants the seed for his next move, the evidence and his history speaks for itself. Hopefully Kemba is more successful at whatever he did this weekend than he was with whatever the pitch was for Marvin Williams. He keeps up this level of production this Spring and also helps land a big fish like Isaiah did and Kemba is going to cement himself as a Celtics legend and that's just a fact.