Could the Utah Jazz pull off a trade for Kemba Walker?
With Charlotte’s Kemba Walker on the trade market, we take a look at if and how the Utah Jazz could try to pull off a trade for the star point guard.
Charlotte Hornets point guard Kemba Walker is officially on the trade market.
With Charlotte’s season production not meeting internal expectations, ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Hornets have made Walker available in trade talks with other NBA teams.
Walker is currently having another All-Star caliber year this year for the Hornets, averaging 21.7 points, 5.8 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 34.5 minutes per game this season. But the Hornets have fallen to 18-25 heading into Saturday’s game against Miami, leaving them in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
With the recent news of Walker’s potential exit in Charlotte, what does that mean for the Utah Jazz?
If Walker is indeed someone the Jazz would look to bring into Utah via trade, let’s take a look at if that’s even a possibility and how the Jazz could make that trade happen before the Feb. 8 deadline.
Wojnarowski reported in his story that Charlotte is looking for either “a good, young player or a first round draft pick” in exchange for Walker.
ESPN Sources: Charlotte making All-Star guard Kemba Walker available in trade talks. Story: https://t.co/4u3mLpmHcH
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 19, 2018
The thing that Utah has the potential to offer the Hornets that not too many other teams are able to is what looks like a solid first round pick. At the pace that the Jazz are currently on, that 2018 first-rounder could potentially be a top-10 selection.
One player that the Jazz would have to unload if they wanted to bring Walker to Salt Lake City would be current point guard Ricky Rubio, who they acquired from Minnesota during the offseason. The Hornets could always entertain the idea of swapping Walker for Rubio and a first-rounder, but Rubio is currently making around $14 million a year, while Walker is at about $12 million a year, which doesn’t make sense for Charlotte.
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Along with the high draft pick, Utah also has the potential to send Charlotte a few expiring contracts, mainly with players like Derrick Favors or Joe Johnson. With the Hornets wanting to unload a few bad contracts, that could make the salaries match up and would give them more flexibility heading into the offseason.
Other than the first round draft pick, the Jazz could also dangle the likes of Rodney Hood, a 25-year-old guard whose having a very nice season while playing on an expiring contract, in a potential trade with Utah.
While not looking extremely likely, if the Jazz could pull off a trade for the Hornets’ All-Star guard, Utah would have a nice Big Three to build off of for years to come.
Walker would join star center Rudy Gobert and rookie sensation Donovan Mitchell to form an attractive Big Three in Utah, a trio that could rank among some of the top talent in the NBA. Utah would also have a solid supporting cast such as Joe Ingles and Alec Burks, among others, to surround the potential potent Big Three.
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There would have to be numerous moving parts for the Jazz to go out and acquire Walker from the Hornets before the trade deadline on Feb. 8. But it’s a possibility, and one that Utah should at least entertain this season.