Detroit Pistons acquire Kemba Walker from Knicks in a 3-team trade
The knicks made the first trade of the night, acquiring veteran Kemba Walker as part of a three-team trade.
On Thursday night, the Detroit Pistons acquired Kemba Walker, the veteran guard from the New York Knicks, as part of a three-team trade involving the Charlotte Hornets that also saw Detroit bring in the draft rights to Jalen Duren.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Walker and the Pistons are expected to talk through a contract buyout that will allow the 32-year-old to become a free agent.
New York made the first trade of the Draft night, sending the draft rights to French-native Ousmane Dieng, the No. 11 overall pick, to the Oklahoma City Thunder for three future conditional first-round picks from the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards and Pistons.
The Knicks then traded Denver’s first-rounder they acquired from Oklahoma City, in addition to four second-round picks, to Charlotte for the rights to the Memphis center who was picked No. 13 by the Hornets, Duren. The Knicks then traded Duren and Walker to the Pistons for a 2025 conditional Milwaukee Bucks first-round pick.
As per Bobby Marks, Walker is on an expiring $9.2 million salary for the coming season. It is possible that Walker will go into the trade exception created after the Pistons finish dealing forward Jerami Grant to the Portland Trail Blazers.
In February, Walker and the Knicks came to an agreement that the four-time All-Star would be sidelined for the remainder of the season to prepare for the 2022-23 one. In addition to Walker battling some knee soreness in January, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau dropped Walker from the Knicks’ playing rotation in mid-November.
Walker averaged 11.6 points and three rebounds in 37 games last season.