Trade rumors have swirled around Charlotte Hornets star point guard Kemba Walker in recent years, but the Hornets are committed to making the playoffs this season with Walker on the roster, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.
Charania also reports that Hornets owner Michael Jordan “has a strong desire” to ink Walker to a new long-term deal when the point guard becomes a free agent in the summer. The 28-year-old Bronx native is making $12 million in the last season of a four-year, $48 million deal.
Walker blossomed into an All-Star-caliber player in the first year of this contract in 2015-16. He led the Hornets to the playoffs that season and then actually made the All-Star Game in 2017 and 2018, but the team took a step back with a questionable roster around him.
Walker has taken his game to a whole new level to start this season. The point guard is putting up 28.1 points, 5.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 47.1 percent overall and 40.4 percent on 3-pointers. He's taking over 10 3-pointers a game to lead a Hornets offense ranked fourth in offensive rating, per NBA.com. He even set an NBA record by hitting 19 3-pointers in the first three games of the season.
While Walker has been dynamite and the Hornets boast the sixth-best net rating in the NBA, the team is still just a game over .500 at 6-5. That's currently good for sixth in the Eastern Conference, though the No. 5 Philadelphia 76ers have an identical 6-5 record.
If Charlotte can keep playing at this level while winning a bit more, perhaps Kemba Walker and co. can surprisingly challenge for a top-four seed in the East. That could go a long way toward convincing the point guard to stick around.
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