NBA Lord's NBA Blog

NBA Lord's NBA Blog

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Skyhook Sunday: Is it time for the Charlotte Hornets to part with Kemba Walker?

                                         (Credit: Keith Allison. Click here for source)

Earlier this week, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that the Charlotte Hornets are open to trading their star point guard Kemba Walker due to an excess of bad contracts and untradeable assets. The Hornets are currently 11th in the Eastern Conference with an 18-25 record and are nowhere close to contending. Walker is having another really good season, averaging 21.7 points, 5.8 assists, and 1.2 steals per game, putting himself in the mix for another all-star appearance. Walker turns 28 in May and still has plenty of good basketball ahead of him, making him a very attractive trade chip. 

The Hornets have a couple of talented young guys in Frank Kaminsky and Jeremy Lamb, but they are still a couple of years away from being serious impact players. Those are guys who they can build around for the future provided they get some more assets, something that Walker can get them if they give him up. 

Typically, I'm against giving up guys like Walker since it's really hard to come by guys like him, but it really feels like the Hornets have backed themselves into a bit of a corner due to their inability to make a strong playoff push this year or next with the present pieces that they have. Getting Dwight Howard was a last ditch effort to become competitive and so far he has not yielded the type of fruit that they were hoping he would. If the Hornets could get some quality assets for Walker to help them build for the future, that would probably be the best thing for them to do. 

Of course, trading Walker only makes sense if you actually can get something good for him. You don't want to trade him for the sake of trading him. If you're going to move him, you better demand a high price and make sure you get something close to what he's worth. The Hornets should be able to get an attractive package for him, but they better make sure they play their cards right and don't make the mistake of giving him up for free. 

Personally, my guess is the Hornets will move Walker, but it'll happen right at the trade deadline. They should take their time with this one and really field all the offers that they can. The longer they wait, the better the offer they'll get and the more they'll be able to leverage other offers that are out there. Walker is a good enough player that a quality contender looking to make a move will be willing to give up a lot to get him. 


As far as what this all means for the direction of the Hornets, they're basically hitting the reset button should they move Walker. They're looking at a 2-3 year rebuilding process at minimum, which is never easy to sell to fans. However, if they really do get the right type of assets, they should be back in the playoff picture in the near future and give themselves a much better chance at actually winning a playoff series and making some noise in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

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