What to do About Kemba Walker?

We are officially in the off-season of the NBA. The NBA off-season is my favorite sports season, behind college football season. I have a degree in sport management, so naturally, I am interested in the business side of sports. There will be some years when I may only watch 5 to 10 NBA games in a season, but when it comes to the off-season, what player is going where, who is getting traded, and who is getting drafted, I am on top of it. I just enjoy that side of the sport.​

Since the NBA finals concluded, we’ve already seen some pretty significant moves in the league. Michael Jordan sold his majority stake in the Hornets. More recently, Bradley Beal was traded to the Suns to join Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, making this Kevin Durant’s third super team that he has been on. But as I have been keeping up with the NBA this off-season, one question has stuck with me. Where is Kemba Walker?

Since Walker departed from Charlotte, I have not kept up with his career all that much, but the reason this question has been on my mind this because Kemba Walker was at one point my absolute favorite player in the NBA. I genuinely had no idea where he was in his career.

The last I remembered, he was on the Detroit Pistons roster. I guess that goes to show how little I paid attention at the time because he did not step on the court for the Pistons. He was released and picked up for a minimum contract with the Dallas Mavericks, where he appeared in just nine games, averaging 8 points per game. Currently, he is a free agent open for any team to take him this off-season.

Retirement is an option for Kemba Walker, which is hard for me to fathom, considering he was up for a $221 million five-year contract just a few years ago. It is clear that Walker is no longer the All-Star us Charlotte Hornet fans knew and loved. Unfortunately, there is so much talent in the league right now at his position that he may not get picked up, and he may be forced to retire.

Most Hornets fans will likely disagree with this take, but personally, I would love to see him back in the purple and teal, even if he was just a role player for one season. I think you could sign him for a very low price and get good value out of him as well as give him the sendoff that he deserves for being such a staple in the organization.

Since basketball came back in Charlotte in 2004, I think most Charlotte fans would consider Kemba their favorite Charlotte Hornet. I would hate for last season to be the last time he stepped out on an NBA court. Unfortunately, that is just the business of the game, and if his nine games with the Dallas Mavericks were the last time he played in the NBA, he could look back on his career, knowing he had a good run.