The NBA trade deadline is now less than a week away, and Kemba Walker remains the biggest name on the trade market.
Michael Jordan recently said that Walker is not on the block, but that surely is posturing on the part of His Airness.
The Hornets aren’t making the playoffs this season (they’re 11th in the Eastern Conference standings at 21-29), and need to acquire assets (i.e. draft picks) in order to gain some flexibility for the future. For instance, having two 2018 draft picks in the 8-18 range would be a good start in trying to rebuild.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Jordan’s asking price for Walker is relatively high as the Hornets recently turned down a trade from the Pistons of Tobias Harris and a first round pick. Harris (18.1 points, 5.1 rebounds per game) is seen as more valuable around the NBA right now than the Knicks’ Frank Ntilikina (5.3 points, 3.4 assists per game), so the Knicks would need to up the ante in any trade for Walker. Truth be told, the Knicks don’t really have the assets to up the ante … but then again, few other teams around the NBA would be willing to cough up a ton for Walker (a very good player, but good point guards are a dime a dozen in today’s league).
The Cavs’ Isaiah Thomas is one of those other very good dime a dozen point guards, and to say his tenure in Cleveland is off to a rocky start would be the understatement of the year. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst wondered aloud if the Cavs would be a good landing spot for Walker recently, and Thomas (an expiring contract that the Hornets would covet) would be outgoing.
Of course, Jordan and the Hornets’ first question to the Cavs would be regarding the Brooklyn pick that they own. With LeBron James more likely than ever to bolt Cleveland this summer, one can bet it would take a lot more than Walker for Cavs GM Koby Altman to bite.
