Report: Kemba Walker signing four-year, $48 million contract extension with Hornets
Oct 28, 2014, 7:35 PM EDT
Charlotte Hornets Media Day Nobody touched the ball more times per game last season than Kemba Walker.
No matter what Charlotte did with the ball, it kept finding its way back to its point guard.
Now, the Hornets commit to finding their way with Walker.
Marc Stein of ESPN:
With the salary cap drastically rising with the new TV national contracts, this seems like a pretty fair deal.
Walker is a score-first point guard whose passing has improved since he reached the NBA. As last year showed, he can defend well enough within a team concept. The 24-year-old probably has room to improve a bit an all facets, but he’s reasonably well-rounded.
Most impressively, he proved he can be the starting point guard on a playoff team, handling all that entails. Now, the Hornets’ goal is winning the franchise’s first playoff game since it re-emerged as the Bobcats.
A dependable starter at this level, Walker should only help.
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- kamanmypants - Oct 28, 2014 at 7:40 PM
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Good value, it’ll look like a steal in a few years if he can just improve his efficiency a bit.
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- ProBasketballPundit - Oct 28, 2014 at 7:48 PM
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I’m glad this got done before the season. Otherwise Kemba would start seeing the other inflated contracts resulting from the salary cap spike and he’d want more. This may seem like a lot for him but it isn’t. Kemba is clutch.
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- nflcrimerankingscom - Oct 29, 2014 at 10:06 PM
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Looked pretty clutch tonight!
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- ProBasketballPundit - Oct 29, 2014 at 10:09 PM
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Yeah boyyieee! I was at game 82 last year and it played out just like this. Kemba made a shot to force OT and then won it down the stretch for us. I definitely trust him at the end of games.
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- tcclark - Oct 28, 2014 at 8:16 PM
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I dont know. I like Kemba. Hes a good point guard and this is fair for his production, but point guards are so replacable right now. There are so many good ones out there that even the Sixers have one. It just seems irresponsible to give 12 million per season to a non-elite point guard. With the cap going up the way that it is, they may have had the money for a max contract player and could have drafted a replacement for kemba or signed a cheaper option.
overall though, not a terrible deal.
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- neutronjimmy123 - Oct 28, 2014 at 9:13 PM
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He got market value and no I do not think PG is that easy to find / obtain. knicks have been struggling to find a pg for years as an example
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- nickjackalson - Oct 29, 2014 at 11:19 AM
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knicks have been struggling [...] for years
NY, LA, Boston I´d like to see them do well, but they´d have to do well first
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- tcclark - Oct 29, 2014 at 7:02 PM
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Oh he definitely got market value, but there are so many point guards out there that they didn’t need to give it to him. You can still succeed with a much cheaper option. The top two teams in the east last year featured George Hill and Mario Chalmers at the point. The 4th seed Bulls played the majority of the year with Kirk Hinrich and D.J Augustin playing the point. The Rockets did really well with Patrick Beverly and he makes less than a million per year.
They’re also easier to obtain than other positions. Most quality starters in the NBA were lottery picks, but that’s not always the case with point guards. Toronto has Kyle Lowry and Grevis Vazquez. both of which were not lottery picks and both were acquired via trade. The Suns have Bledsoe, Dragic, Thomas, and Ennis and none of the four of them were lottery picks and only Ennis was even drafted by them. Rondo was a late 1st rounder, Parker was too. I could go on and on naming pgs that were either drafted in the mid-late first round where the Hornets will be picking, or are inexpensive options who the Hornets could have picked up instead. Point guard is an important position, but there are so many quality point guards out there that it just seems a little irresponsible to pay one 12 million per season. It’s not a bad deal, but I don’t think Kemba is winning Charlotte any championships and his contract could keep them from picking up someone who could.
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- yesser12 - Oct 28, 2014 at 9:21 PM
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Quality pg, when you have a good one you must keep him.
