Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets not represented at All-Star Weekend, Teams did due diligence on Kemba Walker

Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.

The NBA unveiled the logo for the 2019 NBA All-Star Game which will take place in the Queen City and fans aren’t loving the design. (Twitter/ @Hornets) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the Charlotte Hornets not being represented at All-Star Weekend, teams looking at Kemba Walker before the trade deadline and Cody Zeller‘s return.

Hornets not represented at All-Star Weekend (Twitter/ @BringBackTheBuz)

Charlotte’s the only team to not have a player participate in All-Star Weekend this year. All 29 other teams have at least one player named to either the Slam Dunk Contest, the Three-Point Shootout, the Rising Stars Challenge, the Skills Challenge or the actual All-Star Game. The Hornets’ best chance to get someone into All-Star Weekend was with Kemba Walker but he has been snubbed on three separate occasions.

It says a lot that Charlotte is the only team without a participant this season. Chris Walder of The Score went as far as to say that the Hornets are “irrelevant.” Even the worst teams in the league like the Atlanta Hawks, the Orlando Magic, the Dallas Mavericks and the Sacramento Kings have players that were named to an event.

Teams did due diligence on Kemba Walker (TheAthletic.com)

"Several teams, including the Pistons before moving Avery Bradley, have done due diligence on Walker."

Once the news first broke that the Hornets were shopping Kemba, I’m sure a number of teams were interested in trading for Walker. Based on this article, “several” teams went more in-depth and looked deeper into a potential trade by doing their due diligence. At this point, the trade talks haven’t gotten far but they also haven’t quieted down.

Detroit reportedly offered Tobias Harris and a first-round pick to Charlotte in an attempt to get Kemba Walker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist before they made a move for Blake Griffin. Although other specific teams weren’t named, it’s clear that there were plenty of potential suitors for the Hornets’ point guard. Another team that was named were the Milwaukee Bucks.

Cody Zeller set to return (Twitter/ @Hornets)

Next: What Kemba Walker means to the city of Charlotte

Zeller hasn’t played since mid-December after suffering a torn meniscus in his left knee which required surgery. Cody has missed the Hornets’ last 27 games. He was expected to be out for six weeks but the rehab process has taken close to seven and a half weeks instead. His return should give Charlotte an immediate boost off of the bench and add frontcourt depth.