Charlotte Hornets: Kemba Walker’s willingness to lower contract shows character, will to win
Kemba Walker is open to the idea of signing for less than a supermax contract with the Charlotte Hornets, which says a lot about his goals with the franchise.
With the 2018-19 season officially over and free agency on the way, Charlotte Hornets fans have been anxious to see what awaits for the franchise. Kemba Walker will be hitting free agency, and while he is eligible for a five-year, $221 million supermax contract extension, the All-Star guard has said that he is willing to sign for less than that number.
You have to respect Walker’s loyalty to the Hornets franchise, despite all of the ups and downs and lack of success. He’s grown up in Charlotte, turned into the best player in franchise history and has left it all out on the court each and every night.
This latest testament from Walker just shows how cool of a guy he is on and off the court. He’s been on a bargain contract for the past few years, and now he has the chance to cash in and be one of the highest paid players in the entire league, but is willing to take less money so the Hornets can put better pieces around him.
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Now, keep into consideration, just because Walker is willing to take less doesn’t mean that the Hornets are going to add a star or anything even close to that. In fact, it won’t even help much right now, but it is a classy gesture that shows just another level of commitment to the only franchise he has ever known. It could certainly help in the future, though.
Charlotte obviously is going to need all the financial flexibility that they can get in order to re-sign their core free agents in Kemba and Jeremy Lamb. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them make some sort of trade at some point during this off-season in order to get off of a bad contract.
The Hornets will be hoping for some development from the younger players on the team, hoping they can step up and make critical contributions moving forward. Miles Bridges, Malik Monk and Devonte’ Graham will all be needed moving forward.
Walker averaged a career-best 25.6 points for the Hornets last season, and also posted averages of 4.4 rebounds and 5.9 assists. He and the Hornets were one game away from the playoffs, but ended up losing in the last game of the season to former Charlotte coach Steve Clifford and his Orlando Magic squad.
Lakers to target Kemba Walker in free agency. dark. Next
Time will tell if Mitch Kupchak came come up with some magic and build a better team around Kemba Walker this off-season. One thing is clear — Kemba has been nothing but loyal to the Charlotte Hornets, and it appears the organization will repay that loyalty with a big contract, even if it’s not a supermax.