Celtics lose Luke Kornet to free agency, as big man earns massive payday

Luke Kornet is heading to San Antonio after 4 seasons with the Celtics, ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported. Kornet signed a four-year, $41 million take care of the Spurs, signing by far the most important contract of his NBA profession.

The transfer comes even though Brad Stevens mentioned on Wednesday that bringing again Kornet and Al Horford could be the Celtics priorities. However, the Celtics had no capability to match that sort of contract.

“They’re going to have, I’m certain, loads of choices everywhere, and that’s well-deserved, however I feel that may be a precedence,” Stevens mentioned. “On the similar time, I don’t need to put strain on them. It’s their name, finally. However, yeah, we might like to have these guys again.”

Kornet is coming off his finest season as a professional, averaging 6 factors, 5.3 rebounds, and 1 block over a career-high 18.6 minutes per sport. He put collectively the very best sport of his playoff profession in Sport 5 in opposition to the Knicks, tallying 10 factors on 5-5 taking pictures, 9 rebounds, and seven blocks.

Kornet took a pay lower final summer time to stay on the Celtics, opting to signal a one-year, minimal deal. However, at age 30, the previous Vanderbilt standout has opted to lastly money in.

Kornet’s journey to a profitable NBA deal was a circuitous one

After stints with the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls, Luke Kornet joined the Maine Celtics for 10 video games in 2021, then signed 10-day contracts with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks.

He rejoined the Celtics in January of 2022, and signed a rest-of-season contract with Boston for the remainder of the yr. He re-signed with the Celtics on a two-year, $4.5 million contract that summer time, and signed a one-year, minimal take care of the Celtics the summer time after they received the championship in 2024 — which has since been broadly reported as a paycut.

In a single contract, Kornet will almost triple his profession earnings, which to this point have amounted to only below $14.2 million.

Along with Jayson Tatum, the Celtics will now be with out Jrue Vacation, Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet, and (probably) Al Horford subsequent season, shedding 5 key gamers from their 9-man rotation.