OverTime: So, Five Philosophies for Finding Kemba a New Home.

Photo courtesy of Charlotte Observer.

So, the NBA's trade deadline passed last weekend without a hitch for the Charlotte Hornets and their All-Star point guard, Kemba Walker; and this weekend Charlotte will be flooded with NBA pundits and fans alike for All-Star weekend, where Kemba will start as a third time All-Star (as predicted). And, as of this writing, the Hornets are settled solidly within the playoff window in the Eastern Conference. It seems, in a sense, that everything is finally breaking right for the Hornets and their prime, 28 year old point guard. And yet, something doesn't feel right...

What could it possibly be? Is it the fact that the Charlotte Hornets seems to be the most forgotten NBA team, even among players? All this free-agency talk before the trade deadline certainly didn't include the Hornets. Or is it the fact that despite (probably) making the playoffs this season for only the third time since Kemba was drafted, they will likely be dismantled handily in the first round by the Toronto Raptors? That is almost a certainty at this point. While those problems don't bode well for Charlotte, that isn't exactly what feels off. Oh! Now I've got it! The problem for the Charlotte Hornets is that Kemba Walker is an upcoming free agent this summer, and the price tag Charlotte would have to pay is a five-year deal, pushing $190,000,000.

And maybe it's just me, but that's a mighty steep price to pay for a guard that the team has failed to build a team around for the last ten years. So, as an enormous Kemba Walker fan, I've taken it upon myself to take a look at the All-Star guard's upcoming summer and weigh five possible landing spots. Because in a league with such heavy player movement, it can be hard to ground yourself as a fan, and there are a few select philosophies viewers have to grapple with. In the case of Kemba, here they are - five philosophies, five possibilities.

Cynicism - The Charlotte Hornets

 

So, the hardest part of loving Kemba Walker is knowing that Charlotte has wasted every aspect of his career so far, and at 28, he will soon be on the wrong side of his prime. That being said, it is very, very, VERY likely that the Hornets will cough up nearly $200 million to try to keep Walker until he's in his early thirties this summer. And the sad part is - he's almost just as likely to accept. Walker has long contended that he wants to be a Hornet for life. "I'm gonna be loyal to the people who were loyal to me," Kemba said last summer. "[Charlotte]'s just where I wanna be. It's where I wanna be."

While I would love nothing more than to see Kemba succeed, I have long accepted that that isn't possible with the Hornets. And maybe that's alright for Kemba. Maybe he's content being this generation's poor man Allen Iverson. If he's okay with that, I'm okay with that. But, despite his loyalty to Charlotte, I don't think he's okay with that. I think he wants success, and I think he knows that he won't find that in North Carolina. So, while the Hornets will probably try to do everything in their power to retain their superstar, only the cynic in me can believe that Walker will resign. 

Absurdism - The Los Angeles Lakers

Okay, so hear me out. The Los Angeles Lakers are in crisis mode. After getting literally trolled by the New Orleans front office, Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson are scrambling to put together a Finals contender in the West before losing whatever is left of LeBron's everlasting prime. And while it would be the funniest way to use cap space, signing Kemba this summer wouldn't be the worst idea. Rondo has proven to be an inconsistent (at best) point guard this season, and seeing as how he is only signed to a one-year deal, the Lakers are either going to need to resign him this summer, commit to making Lonzo Ball their starting point guard (yikes!), or finding a new point guard all together.

That's where Kemba comes in. Kemba has never played alongside anyone even remotely as good as LeBron James, so the benefits of playing alongside someone at and above his level are untold. And Walker has shown himself to be a great veteran presence in his years with the Hornets, something that Johnson, Pelinka, and James all agree the young Lakers core desperately needs. Besides Kyrie Irving, Kemba will easily be the best point guard on the market this summer. So, the Lakers can either blow cap space on a bonafide superstar, or they can keep messing around, offering their entire young core for even a breath of the league's top ten.

Realism - The Los Angeles Clippers

Maybe you don't follow the NBA. Maybe if you do and you follow Los Angeles, you only follow the Lakers. Or maybe you, like me, follow the Clippers. Regardless of who you follow, it's important to know that last week the Clippers went from playoff contenders to full on tank mode. They sold off some of their biggest assets and committed to growing their cap space for the 2019 summer. While the Clippers do have enough cap space next season for two super-max contracts, there are a few problems with this landing spot for Walker.

The first problem is that the Clippers currently have three (very) good point guards on their roster. One is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a promising rookie that isn't going anywhere. Another is Lou Williams, the NBA's perpetual Sixth Man of the Year, who also isn't going anywhere. Of course, Lou has been coming off the bench for years, and Shai can easily be moved to shooting guard. The real problem comes with Patrick Beverley, a veteran point guard like Walker. However, Beverley, who is leaps and bounds behind Walker offensively but a few steps ahead defensively, is also an unrestricted free agent this summer. So, the Clippers would have to make a decision to pay a big price tag for Walker and let Beverley go, or keep Beverley as the starting point guard and hope he's enough. Or they could do both. They certainly have enough money to do it.

The second problem is less about the logistics of getting Kemba to the Clippers and is more about how it would feel as a fan, because - don't get me wrong - I love the Clippers nearly as much as I love Kemba, but even with Walker, I don't think the Clippers are going to make a deep playoff run in the next few years, all miracles withstanding. That being said, "miracle" is basically Kemba's middle name. Kemba "Miracle" Walker. His 2011 NCAA tournament run with UCONN, a team that went from unseeded to national champions in a few months, will live in infamy as one of the best things to ever happen in basketball. But, realistically, that will not happen with the Clippers, not as teams like the Nuggets, Mavericks, and (fingers crossed) Lakers rise and the reigns of the NBA are still held by the Warriors. Kemba would likely be an All-Star starter for a struggling playoff contender in an overcrowded conference. Sound familiar? Sure, the stakes would be higher than they are right now in Charlotte, but I doubt very much that the outcome would be any different. More exciting but slept on games, more early playoff exits, and more of Kemba's prime wasted in a hopeless situation.

Romanticism - The New York Knicks

So, here's a funny thing - the New York Knicks traded away Kristaps Porzingis, their unicorn, their crown jewel, probably the best player to grace their franchise since Patrick Ewing. And they traded him for cap space. Now, although I think I have a fairly in depth knowledge of basketball and its history, I'm certainly no expert on the sport. That being said I am almost 1000% positive that no team has ever, ever, EVER traded away their franchise player, who is still being paid minimally on a rookie contract, for... nothing. Nothing at all.

The traded him to Dallas on a wing and a prayer that for the first time this century, things will break right for them - that they will have a good lottery pick (holding out for Zion) and be able to land not one, but two stars in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. However, when things inevitably don't go right for the Knicks - because, you know, they never have - and KD decides he wants to keep winnings rings in Oakland and/or Kyrie decides he really does want his number retired in Boston, the Knicks front office is going to have to look elsewhere. And maybe, if they're smart (which I know they aren't) they'll look south to Charlotte.

Kemba has always praised the New York Knicks, even talking about how big a stage it is to play in Madison Square Garden. It makes sense. Walker grew up in Harlem, and although he has publicly said he doesn't have any interest in returning home, it would be a nice full circle if Kemba became the face of a franchise that hasn't been good since he was a child. The Knicks certainly have the cap space for his super-max contract in the years to come, and as of right now they have no real clashes with adding Kemba as the starting point guard position. Everything points to it being a perfect fit. And the best part is that New York could sign Kemba and still be a real contender (in fact, a stronger contender) for landing another superstar like Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, or Jimmy Butler. Everything could finally break right for the New York Knicks, and maybe that begins with bringing Kemba home.

Idealism - The Milwaukee Bucks

Let me just be up-front and throw this out there - this can't happen. Like it actually can't happen. The Bucks are already well near the luxury tax line, and if they want to retain the players of theirs that are upcoming free agents this summer that means paying big money to Malcolm Brogdon, Brook Lopez, Nikola Mirotic, and Eric Bledsoe. That's basically their whole core, save for All-Stars Giannis and Khris Middleton. The Bucks will have essentially no wiggle room to sign new players, let alone their old ones, this summer, and without wiggle room that means they have to try to make a strong Finals push with their team as currently constituted.

Of course, that isn't looking like a problem as of right now. With only two months left in the season, the Bucks haven't even lost 15 games, and they're sitting solidly on the top of the Eastern Conference. However, when the playoffs arrive and push comes to shove, everything could change. Their lack of depth at the guard position could become a weakness, and no one feels entirely comfortable with the ball in their hands, except Giannis, who simply will be swarmed with defense come May. The Greek Freak can fly through the paint, but he isn't a primary play-maker, which is what the Bucks might just need to make a push into the Finals. 

Kemba Walker can be that. He's an excellent play-maker, runs the floor at an elite level, has shown he can be the ideal system player (which Coach Bud would love), and is a veteran who is more than comfortable with the ball both in and out of his hands. Kemba would be an awe-inspiring fit alongside Antetokounmpo and the Bucks' stretch bigs like Mirotic and Lopez. Not only would they be a compelling match-up against the Golden State Warriors, but they just might end up getting some rings for Giannis and Kemba yet.

But, like I said, it can't happen. The moves it would require, the money that would have to be dealt, the miracles that would have to happen exceed even those Kemba is capable of creating. Of course, what looks like the ideal fit for Kemba Walker will turn out to be nothing more than a pipe dream. But so it goes when you're a Kemba Walker super fan.