Kemba Walker Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Hornets, Walker, Heat

March 5th, 2015 at 1:10pm CST by Zachary Links

Hornets guard Kemba Walker has been cleared to resume all basketball activities, moving him closer to a return from knee surgery, as The Associated Press writes. “I’m excited. I’ve been anxious,” Walker said. “I’ve been working hard trying to get back to competing with my teammates. And I got some great news, so I’m excited.” Coach Steve Clifford said the team will practice again Saturday and Walker’s return to action will depend on how the knee responds to an increased workload. Here’s more from the Southeast Division..

Lance Stephenson is having a poor first season in Charlotte, but Clifford thinks that the 24-year-old needs some more time to adjust to his new surroundings, Tim Bontemps of the New York Post writes. ““I think first of all, in some ways expectations were a little out of whack,” the Hornets said of Stephenson, who inked a three-year, $27MM deal with Charlotte over the summer. “I think secondly, he’s a young player, and unlike a guy like Mo Williams, who has played for seven coaches, seven systems and is used to adapting to new teammates and new cities, this is the first time.” The Hornets shopped Stephenson at the deadline but they were unable to find a suitable deal.
Jarell Eddie, who has inked a 10-day deal with the Hawks, took a path similar to Danny Green on his way to the NBA, Lorne Chan of Spurs.com writes. Green carved out a role for himself by knocking down shots from long range, but also doing the little things well. Eddie is now the third member of the Austin Spurs to reach the NBA this season after JaMychal Green and Bryce Cotton.
David Pick of Basketball Insiders looked at the unusual path taken by Henry Walker, who just inked his second 10-day deal with the Heat.
In today’s mailbag, a reader asked Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel if he believes the Heat will take advantage of the $2.65MM exception they have as a result of Josh McRoberts‘ knee surgery. Miami has until March 10th to use it, but Winderman doesn’t see them veering into tax territory to aid in a fight for the No. 7 or No. 8 seed.

Southeast Notes: Hawks, Crawford, Heat, Hornets

February 7th, 2015 at 4:44pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Hawks have taken the league by storm this season and they can thank the Spurs for giving them the blueprint for success, writes Paul Newberry of the Associated Press. Atlanta, like San Antonio, created a team-first atmosphere in which ball movement is one of the major focuses. Point guard Jeff Teague has bought into the team’s philosophy. “I’m enjoying every minute of it,” said Teague. “We’re so unselfish. We don’t care about glory or accolades. It’s just a joy to play on a team like that.” The Hawks have won 35 out of their last 38 games and own a record of 42-9, which is the best in the entire league.

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Heat are struggling on offense this season but the team continues to pass on adding proven scorers, like Jordan Crawford, to the roster, writes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Crawford, who averaged 12.2 points per game during his time in the NBA, would give the team a much needed scoring option off the bench, but concerns about the 26-year-old’s maturity have turned Miami away. The Heat are scoring 92.4 point per game this season, which is second worst in the league.
Although the Heat have lost five out of their last six games and own a record of 21-29, which is good for ninth place in the Eastern Conference, the team remains committed to making the postseason, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “Everybody can see the potential of our young group, and they’re getting great opportunities to play, for something, for the playoffs, with our veteran core,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. If Miami finds itself outside the playoff picture, the team has motivation to lose more games because its first-round draft pick will go to the Sixers if it doesn’t fall within the top 10. The Heat have the 12th worst record in the league, as our reverse order standings show, making it unlikely that they keep their pick if they remain in this position at the end of the season.
The Hornets continue to push for a playoff berth and veteran Jason Maxiell has been key to the team’s success during Kemba Walker‘s absence, writes Tom Sorensen of the Charlotte Observer. Maxiell signed with Charlotte for the veteran’s minimum about a month before the start of the season and the 32-year-old has served as a mentor for the 10th youngest team in the league. The Hornets are currently in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 22-27.

Southeast Notes: Vaughn, Heat, Walker

February 6th, 2015 at 8:02pm CST by Eddie Scarito

A number of coaches around the NBA have taken issue with the way in which the Magic fired former coach Jacque Vaughn, Chris Mannix of SI.com writes. Said one NBA coach, “We get hired to eventually get fired. But what they did to Jacque was disrespectful.” The main complaint about the team’s handling of Vaughn relates to how the franchise left Vaughn to face a daily barrage of questions regarding his job status instead of either simply pulling the plug on him sooner, or giving Vaughn a public endorsement to ease the media scrutiny, Mannix adds.

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

Heat team president Pat Riley and his staff want to bolster their roster at the deadline but lack the assets to make a deal, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. Still, that would seem to indicate that the club doesn’t intend to be a seller, though that is merely my speculation.
Kemba Walker is expected to miss approximately five more weeks while recovering from knee surgery, but the Hornets‘ point guard says that he won’t rush his recovery and risk re-injuring himself, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes. “Right now I’m taking things slow. I want to be 100% when I come back,” Walker said. “I started riding the bike two days ago. As the weeks go by, I’ll do more and more.”
After enduring the previous two rebuilding seasons, Magic GM Rob Hennigan and CEO Alex Martins both expected greater improvement and player progress than the team displayed this season, which is what ultimately led to Vaughn being fired, John Denton of NBA.com writes. “We went into the season wanting to see some progress and see some growth and we just didn’t feel like we were seeing the kind of growth that we wanted to see,’’ said Hennigan. “That led us to this point. We find ourselves in a little bit of a rut right now. We’ll call it what it is, but I’ll always say that it’s a road bump and not a road block. We will get through this, but it doesn’t make it any easier when you have to make the type of decision that we made the other day.’’

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Hornets Eye Cole, Sessions Amid Walker Injury

January 28th, 2015 at 1:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 1:02pm: Walker will miss a minimum of six weeks, the team confirmed via press release.

MONDAY, 5:21pm: Hornets coach Steve Clifford acknowledged the possibility that the Hornets would sign a player to help offset the loss of Walker, but while he said Walker has been “by far our best player,” he added that he believes the club has “more than enough” internally to maintain its performance. Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer has the details, and notes that the club is without an open roster spot to accommodate a would-be signee.

5:12pm: The Hornets have Ramon Sessions and Norris Cole on their radar as they pursue trade possibilities to replace injured point guard Kemba Walker, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Walker will have surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee, the team announced, and while Charlotte didn’t provide a timetable for his recovery, the team hopes he’ll be back in six weeks, Wojnarowski tweets. The team isn’t looking to trade Walker, but merely to find someone to replace his production during his absence, Wojnarowski clarifies (Twitter link).

Charlotte is familiar with Sessions, having signed him in 2012, and he spent a season and a half with the club, a tenure that ended with a trade at last year’s deadline. Sacramento recently engaged in discussions regarding a swap of Sessions for Jordan Farmar before the Clippers waived Farmar, according to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, who at that point pegged Sessions as the King most likely to be traded. The 28-year-old makes $2.077MM this season and is in line for more than $2.17MM next year.

Cole makes roughly the same amount, drawing slightly more than $2.038MM this year in the final season of his rookie-scale contract. Heat president Pat Riley insists he hasn’t made any offers to any teams, in spite of a report that indicated Miami had proposed a deal for Brook Lopez that would have sent Cole to the Nets. Cole “pretty much knows” that the Heat are ready to trade him, as Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio wrote last week as reported that Miami had put the 26-year-old soon-to-be restricted free agent on the trade block.

The Hornets appear to be active in talks of late, many of them involving Lance Stephenson. Charlotte holds a half-game lead over the Nets for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and is a game and a half back of the Heat. It’d seem unlikely that Miami would want to help a team it’s competing against for a playoff spot, though that’s just my speculation.

Hornets Notes: Walker, Taylor, Jefferson

October 30th, 2014 at 1:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

The start of the season has gone just about as well as could be scripted for Kemba Walker and the Hornets, who reached a deal on a four-year, $48MM extension Tuesday and formally announced it today. In between, Walker hit the game-winning shot to give Charlotte an overtime victory Wednesday in its first regular season game since reclaiming the Hornets nickname. Here’s more from The Hive:

Hornets GM Rich Cho didn’t hide his enthusiasm about the Walker extension, and Walker is excited, too, as Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer notes (Twitter links). “I would love to be here as long as I can,” Walker said. “I love the city of Charlotte.”
Jeff Taylor received 18 months of probation and was ordered to pay $1,840 today after pleading guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor domestic assault and property destruction charges, reports Kevin Grasha of the Lansing State Journal. Taylor remains on paid leave from the Hornets, and Cho said today that the team will take its cues from the league, noting that the NBA has yet to finish its investigation of the matter, Bonnell observes (Twitter links).
Al Jefferson can hit free agency in the summer if he turns down his $13.5MM player option, but Michael Jordan made it clear earlier this week that he has no intention of letting the center get away, as the owner told Bonnell. “Al is a straight shooter. We love him,” Jordan said. “He took a gamble on us. That obviously plays into our thinking.”

Hornets Sign Kemba Walker To Extension

October 30th, 2014 at 12:01pm CST by Zachary Links

Kemba Walker and the Hornets have officially signed a rookie-scale extension, the team acknowledged in a formal announcement. Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported on Tuesday that the sides had agreed to terms on what is a four-year, $48MM deal. It contains no options or incentive clauses, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) confirms. Earlier Tuesday, Hornets owner Michael Jordan made it known that he intended to work out a new deal with Walker.

“Today is a great day for the Charlotte Hornets,” Hornets GM Rich Cho said in the team’s statement. “To be able to retain such an important piece of the core we are building here in Charlotte is exciting. Kemba is an integral part of the culture we’re trying to create within our organization and we are excited that he will continue to be a part of our team for years to come.”

Walker, a Jeff Schwartz client, averaged 17.7 PPG, 6.1 APG, and 4.2 RPG in a career-high 35.8 minutes per contest last season. Walker’s scoring average was identical to his 2012/13 mark and he’s accustomed to being a leading scorer for Charlotte. However, not everyone sees him as a go-to player and his $12MM average annual salary is sure to draw some criticism. About a month ago, Zach Lowe of Grantland wrote that he has heard from executives around the league that the the UConn product is not a “championship point guard.” Walker got his first taste of NBA postseason basketball last season and Charlotte has a good shot at a return trip this year.

As Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors pointed out earlier, the Hornets had about $22.7MM in guaranteed salary on the books for 2015/16 prior to the Walker agreement, though that number increases when factoring in a $13.5MM player option for Al Jefferson, $10MM+ in rookie scale team options that the team has since exercised, and a $6MM player option for Gerald Henderson. With that in mind, the new deal for Walker doesn’t leave the Hornets much room to add an impact free agent next summer. However, if the Hornets didn’t lock up Walker to a new deal before then, they would have risked seeing two top players — Jefferson and Walker — potentially hit the open market.

Even though Walker’s scoring average stayed the same from 2012/13 to 2013/14, his shooting percentage dipped from 42.3% to 39.3% as his uptick in long two-point attempts cost him some accuracy. That slide was also reflected in his PER as it declined from 18.8 in 2012/13 to 16.8 this past season. Walker’s PER score in 2013/14 put him 17th amongst all qualified point guards.

Kyrie Irving, Kenneth Faried, Markieff Morris, and Marcus Morris have also taken advantage of the extension window that opened on July 1st.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hornets Push For Extension With Kemba Walker

October 28th, 2014 at 3:47pm CST by Chuck Myron

Hornets owner Michael Jordan intends to sign an extension with Kemba Walker rather than let him hit free agency and said that he’s hopeful that the “real conversations” between the sides bear fruit in advance of Friday’s deadline, as he tells Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (All Twitter links). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier this month that Charlotte was in talks with the Jeff Schwartz client.

Executives around the league often say that Walker isn’t a “championship point guard,” as Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote about a month ago, though the 24-year-old hasn’t had much chance to show what he can do in meaningful games during his three years with the team. Last year’s playoff appearance was his first, and he held steady at 17.7 points per game during the 2013/14 regular season in spite of the addition of marquee free agent Al Jefferson. The Hornets are poised to return to the postseason this year, but it appears Jordan is anxious to strike a deal before skeptical executives have a chance to drive up the point guard’s value next summer.

The Hornets only have about $45.2MM in guaranteed salary for 2015/16 even with Walker’s extension. That doesn’t include a $13.5MM player option for Jefferson nor a $6MM player option for Gerald Henderson, however.

Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images.

Extension Rumors: Leonard, Thompson, Cole

October 17th, 2014 at 11:24am CST by Chuck Myron

The deadline for teams to sign rookie scale extensions with their eligible players is two weeks from today, and while only six players came to deals last time around, that number has the potential to be much larger this year, notes Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein has more on many of those extension hopefuls that adds to the storylines we’ve been following throughout the offseason:

Kawhi Leonard, Tristan Thompson, and Norris Cole are among the players who are in active negotiations with their respective teams about rookie scale extensions, Stein reports. Klay Thompson, Ricky Rubio, Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, Reggie Jackson, Brandon Knight, Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris, Enes Kanter and Alec Burks are also in active extension talks, according to Stein, who advances earlier reports that all of them had engaged in talks.
Iman Shumpert and the Knicks are also discussing an extension, Stein writes, countering a report from a few weeks ago that indicated that the sides hadn’t engaged in talks and that New York was content to let the swingman hit restricted free agency next summer.
Klay Thompson’s camp is considering the idea of going after an offer sheet similar to the one the Mavs gave Chandler Parsons if Thompson and the Warriors don’t come to an extension this month, Stein hears. Parsons’ near-max deal runs three years and includes a player option and a 15% trade kicker. Rival GMs have expressed admiration for its structure and Rockets GM Daryl Morey pointed to the difficulty that trading such a contract would entail shortly after he decided against matching it. The player option would allow Thompson to hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2017, which is when Stephen Curry‘s deal is set to end, as Stein points out.
The Lakers have attempted to trade for Thompson in the past, Stein notes, though he doesn’t make any suggestion that they’re planning an aggressive push for the shooting guard if he becomes a restricted free agent next summer.

Southeast Notes: LeBron, Bosh, Hornets

September 25th, 2014 at 9:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

LeBron James says it would have been more difficult for him to leave the Heat if they’d beaten the Spurs in the Finals this year and that he hadn’t envisioned returning to play in Cleveland until the end of his career. James made his comments to CNN’s Rachel Nichols, who released a preview of the full interview, which airs Friday (video link).

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

With LeBron gone Chris Bosh will become the focal point of the Heat‘s offense, something the player is greatly looking forward to, Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report writes. Bosh’s former coach Sam Mitchell believes his former player will answer the bell, saying “Pat Riley gave him the contract that said, ‘You’re going to be the guy. People think Chris is not that guy. When the offense is running through him, they’re going to find out, I guarantee you. One of those Big Three in Miami had to take a backseat and check his ego at the door. If Chris hadn’t done it, they may not have two championships. Now, I think Chris is going to play even better than he did in Toronto. I really do, because now he has something to prove all over again.”
Hornets GM Rich Cho said there have been some initial discussions between the franchise and Kemba Walker about a possible extension, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports (Twitter link). Walker can become a restricted free agent next summer.
The Wizards enter the new season with higher expectations than usual, Joseph White of USA Today writes. Coach Randy Wittman embraces the pressure that comes with those expectations, saying, “Listen, as a coach, you want to have these expectations. I’d much rather be sitting here talking about high expectations than you so-called experts thinking we might win 15-16 games. Last year doesn’t mean nothing. Last year we’ve got to use. Are we going to use it as a stepping stone to this year? When I say we’re back to ground zero, everybody’s 0-0 right now.”
Embattled Hawks GM Danny Ferry is slowly gathering supporters around the league, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. But this support may not ultimately help Ferry keep his job, notes Vivlamore, and the executive’s fate most likely rests with whomever the new controlling owner of the franchise is.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Cap, Walker, Bledsoe, Rubio, Wiggins

September 23rd, 2014 at 11:43am CST by Chuck Myron

Some teams think the salary cap will jump above $70MM for next season, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports, though Lowe’s dispatch from a week ago indicated that the league has told clubs not to get carried away with their projections for the time being. Clarity on the matter will be important, especially for clubs with players up for extensions to their rookie-scale contracts before the October 31st deadline. Lowe’s latest piece centers on one such case, as the Hornets face a decision about whether to extend Kemba Walker, whom rival executives often say isn’t a “championship point guard,” according to Lowe. We’ll pass along another tidbit from the Grantland scribe amid the latest from around the league:

The Suns haven’t shown much interest in sign-and-trades involving Eric Bledsoe, Lowe hears, advancing Friday’s report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that threw cold water on the idea that Bledsoe would end up with the Wolves.
The Wolves and Ricky Rubio‘s camp remain in a stalemate in extension negotiations in part because agents Dan Fegan and Jarinn Akana know that the Knicks and Lakers can open cap space next summer, writes Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter links).
Rumors as late as the eve of the draft suggested that the Cavs were conflicted about whom to take No. 1 overall, but coach David Blatt insists the team had settled on Andrew Wiggins long before making him the top pick, as Blatt tells Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer. Cleveland didn’t hold on to Wiggins for long, of course, shipping him to the Wolves in the Kevin Love trade.
Nazr Mohammed‘s contract with the Bulls is non-guaranteed for the minimum salary and covers just one season, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
Clippers signee Jared Cunningham rejected a deal from Serbia’s KK Partizan to instead try his hand at making the opening-night roster in L.A. on his non-guaranteed contract, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com.