Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets Upcoming Free Agents, Time to Rest Kemba Walker
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The Charlotte Hornets continued their late push for the playoffs as they picked up their third consecutive win after defeating the Orlando Magic. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the team’s upcoming free agents, the possibility of resting Kemba Walker and the season series against the Magic.
Hornets Have No Key Free Agents (BleacherReport.com)
"With no notable players entering free agency (sorry, Brian Roberts), the Charlotte Hornets will instead be left to lament a cluttered salary sheet on the heels of a season that ends without a playoff berth."
The Hornets, the Orlando Magic and the Portland Trail Blazers are the only three teams in this article to be without a key free agent in the upcoming offseason. While Roberts is set to be the only unrestricted free agent for Charlotte, Ramon Sessions, Johnny O’Bryant, Briante Weber and Christian Wood all have team options so they could potentially be free agents. (HoopsHype.com) With a limited number of free agents, the team has little wiggle room this summer because of their cap situation.
As for the upcoming free agency period, I expect for the Hornets to let both Roberts and Sessions walk while the trio of O’Bryant, Weber and Wood will all get extended looks and their fates will likely come down to the final roster decisions the front office makes. Outside of that, Charlotte’s roster is largely set so they will need trades in order to make any serious changes.
Time to Rest Kemba Walker (HashtagBasketball.com)
"In addition to helping the team lose games and earn a better pick, cutting minutes for the major players would also decrease the risk of injury, which has been a major issue all season for the Hornets. A long-term injury to Walker would be absolutely disastrous for the franchise, and the team needs to be wary of that. There’s always a slight risk of injury, but limited minutes would a start in soothing the concerns about losing Walker for an extended period of time."
Just over a week ago, I made an argument as to why the team should rest Kemba. With only about 10 games left in the season, that is becoming less and less likely. Charlotte’s still in the hunt for the eighth seed and as long as that is possible, Walker and the Hornets will continue to fight and push for the playoffs. Even if it isn’t the logical or most calculated thing to do, they are going to go out and try to win games.
Resting the all-star point guard would just cover the team on all fronts because it would probably be the most devastating thing for Kemba to get injured near the end of a season while the Hornets miss out on the postseason. With that being said, there is no chance Walker rests unless Charlotte’ completely out of the playoff hunt in the final handful of games. Even then, he could still play just to close out the year.
Season Series Against the Magic (Twitter/ ESPN Stats and Info)
"The @Hornets’ 1st sweep of the season series vs Magic since 1990-91. They have now won last 7 meetings."
Next: Rumor: Sessions Could Return by the End of March
For the first time in almost 30 YEARS, the Hornets swept the season series against the Magic. That is just crazy. To also put this into perspective, Charlotte won by a combined 87 points in their four meetings which is the largest sweep versus any team in franchise history. (Chris Kroeger) They flat-out owned Orlando this season.