On this day in Boston Celtics history, former Celtics forward Antoine Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1976. Walker played his college ball at the University of Kentucky, where he won an NCAA title in 1996, and he was drafted by the Celtics with the 6th pick of the 1996 NBA draft.
Walker made All-Rookie First Team in his inaugural season in the NBA, and, he reunited with college coach Rick Pitino when the former Kentucky coach took over as head coach and team president of Boston the following season. The Chicagoan played eight seasons with the Celtics in two stints.
He played seven seasons with Boston in his first stint, during which he was elected to three All-Star teams before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
Walker played one more season with the Celtics, 2004-05, after being dealt back to the team from the Atlanta Hawks.
In 2005, Walker was dealt in one of the largest trades in league history, a five-team deal that sent him to the Miami Heat, where he won an NBA championship.
Walker averaged 20.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game in his time as a Celtic across both stints.
Employee Number Eight — as he was known — still holds a place in many Boston fans’ hearts.
Finally, it was also on this date in 2020 that the NBA circulated a memo on rules for the so-called Orlando bubble to maintain safety for the isolated grounds the league was finishing the 2019-20 NBA season on after the pandemic derailed play for four months.
Players were able to have up to four guests (that limit may be exceeded for children) they have known previously, the latter restriction included minimizing the potential for distractions, according to the terms agreed upon at that time by the league and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).
That excluded people players have business relationships with like chefs, tattoo artists, trainers, and agents, and required seven days of quarantine before being allowed to mingle with others in the NBA campus.
Players were allowed a ticket per game each available for those friends and family, with up to one additional seat for a child in an effort to minimize risk. Those guests were not be able to travel to the theme parks and were restricted to the Disney NBA campus.
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