NBA Rumors: Kemba Walker Unlikely To Follow Footsteps Of Desperate Ring Chasers, Intends To Stay With Hornets
All-Star point guard Kemba Walker is currently entering the final year of the four-year, $48 million contract that he signed with the Charlotte Hornets in 2015. If the Hornets suffer another disappointing season, most people expect Walker to leave Charlotte when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.
With his goal being to win an NBA championship title, Charlotte is no longer an ideal place to stay for Kemba Walker. With the emergence of numerous “Super Teams,” Walker is definitely aware that the Hornets need to add at least two superstars to be considered a legitimate title contender. During the recent Hornets media day, Walker decided to break his silence and address the rumors regarding his impending free agency.
Unlike other NBA superstars who join “Super Teams” to chase for an NBA championship title, Kemba Walker said that he intends to stay and “create something special” in Charlotte. There is still plenty of time between now and the 2019 NBA free agency, but Walker is very confident that he and the Hornets will be having a mutual agreement regarding his next contract.
“This is where I want to be. I don’t want to be nowhere else,” Walker said, via Sporting News. “You see guys wanting to leave teams and stuff like that. I don’t want to do that. I want to create something here, create something special here in Charlotte, something we’ve never had here. I want to create some consistency. I want to be a part of it. That’s just how I feel.”
Kemba Walker emphatic on Hornets future: 'I don’t want to be nowhere else.' https://t.co/YzyNu48g8R pic.twitter.com/4ZK4A8nSLK
— theScore (@theScore) September 25, 2018
When the Hornets hired Mitch Kupchak as general manager, there were speculations that the team might consider trading Kemba Walker in order to undergo a full-scale rebuild. However, Kupchak denied the rumors and said that they still see Walker as the centerpiece of the title-contending team that they are planning to build. Though the Hornets are yet to find their second superstar, they have added two veterans — Tony Parker and Bismack Biyombo — who can help them become more competitive in the upcoming 2018-19 NBA season.
The Eastern Conference has become vulnerable after LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Los Angeles Lakers. However, in the ESPN Summer Forecast, panelists still predicted the Hornets to miss the NBA Playoffs for the second consecutive year and to finish as the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 35-47 record. As of now, everything is in the hands of Kemba Walker and the Hornets to prove their doubters wrong next season.
