2. Charlotte Hornets
The obvious potential landing spot for Kemba Walker for the upcoming season would be his current team, the Charlotte Hornets.
Walker has spent his entire eight-year career with the Hornets since he was drafted ninth overall out of UCONN in the 2011 NBA Draft. It’s understandable why he has a strong connection to the Hornets and why he would want to continue to play for the only NBA team he’s played for in his career, even outside of the salary factor.
In 2018, Walker was named to an All-NBA team, which means Charlotte has the ability to offer him a five-year supermax contract worth up to $221 million. That is significantly more than the four-year, $140 million total that any other team in the league can offer.
Earlier this month, Walker told local reporters that he would be willing to take less than the supermax in order to stay in Charlotte and continue his career with the Hornets.
"“Yeah, why not? Yeah I would be. I would take less, yeah,” Walker told local reporters. “Like I said, Charlotte is my first priority and I have to see what (the Hornets) have to offer, as well as other teams.”"
Although Walker ideally wants to stay in Charlotte, the recent news that Hornets owner Michael Jordan may not want to take the financial risk of re-signing Walker could throw a wrench into the point guard’s desires in free agency.
Charlotte will continue to be in the mix to re-sign its franchise point guard once the June 30 date approaches, and it sounds like Walker would strongly consider returning to the franchise.
But will the Hornets continue to pursue Walker, or will they begin to look elsewhere ahead of the upcoming season? We are about to find out that answer very soon.