Charlotte Hornets: Kemba Walker Worked Out With Steve Nash Two Summers Ago
Charlotte Hornets’ star, Kemba Walker, reportedly worked with Hall of Fame point guard, Steve Nash, two summers ago to help his game.
Steve Clifford recently released a tidbit about Kemba Walker’s development and growth. He told Chris Kroeger that “Kemba Walker spent some time working with Steve Nash two summers ago.” Interestingly enough, this is the offseason before the Charlotte Hornets‘ point guard had a breakout year.
There wasn’t any added information about their workouts but it is still noteworthy that Kemba worked out with one of the best passing point guards in NBA history. The Hall of Famer has a long list of accomplishments including two MVP awards from his playing career that lasted from 1996-2015. Anything that the eight-time all-star could help/add to Walker’s game is a positive and although we don’t know exactly what they worked on or for how long, it correlates to Kemba’s breakout season in the league.
Nash now works with the Golden State Warriors as a player development consultant and has helped Stephen Curry with his game. There have been multiple videos of the former Phoenix Suns‘ guard working with Steph recently.
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After they reportedly worked out in the summer of 2015, Walker has the best season of his career. He averaged 20.9 points per game, 5.2 assists per game, and 4.4 rebounds per game during that year. The biggest improvement Kemba made was on his outside shooting and that could be thanks in large part to the help of one of the best shooters in NBA history.
Nash shot over 40% from the three-point line in 14 of his 18 seasons in the league. Walker did so for the first time last season and is doing so again this year. Steve obviously had a positive impact on Kemba’s game despite not knowing what they were working on during their time together.
It is interesting that this information has just been made available even though their workouts took place about a year and a half ago. It probably wasn’t important to share at the time but with Walker’s improvements and development, I feel that it is noteworthy to his growth. The level of impact is unclear but I would say that it was positive, nonetheless.
Next: Kemba Named to His First All-Star Game
Kemba has been now been named to his first all-star team and it is thanks, at least in some small amount, to Steve Nash. Walker’s game in terms of improved outside shooting and weaving through the defense on pick and rolls is similar to that of Nash when he played.