Lakers Rumors: Chances of getting Kemba Walker from the Hornets side?

Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors have touched on who the team could add in free agency. One player to keep an eye on is Kemba Walker, but how realistic of a target is he?

Los Angeles Lakers rumors have been prevlant, but there has been some news mixed in as well.

The Lakers have done it. Now with Anthony Davis finally reportedly being brought into the fold as the second max-level player that the Lakers pursued, the dream that Magic Johnson envisioned after he took over for Jim Buss as President of Basketball Operations has come to reality.

Two years, a whole lot of drama, a Magic Johnson resignation and a ton of speculation about what the Lakers would give up, it’s done.

THANK GOD! We can talk about something else! Well, it didn’t take long for the next wave of Lakers rumors to start.

Almost five seconds seemingly after the Anthony Davis report came out, Lakers rumors picked back up.

Okay, now what. If the Lakers are rumored to go after a player, more than likely the front office will try to do it, no matter what the cost. The NBA world was a witness to that fact for the last six months. Now we have to figure out a few things.

As shared at Lake Show Life by Kenneth Teape, the Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly looking at Jimmy Butler and Kemba Walker. Let’s take care of one of these players real quick.

Jimmy Butler more than likely will never be fitted for a Lakers uniform. Butler has found a home in Philadelphia where it is widely believed that the team will offer him a max deal. He is also being looked at by the Houston Rockets (Like again) to become that third superstar to make a championship run.

Let’s put this to bed. Jimmy Butler is out. Now let’s deal with reality with a potential star that the Lakers could potentially get in Kemba Walker. Let’s take a look at the Lakers possible addition, shall we?

Kemba Walker is coming off a career year with the Charlotte Hornets, even becoming an All-Star in his city of Charlotte last year. Walker scored a career-high 25.6 points while tallying up 6.9 assists, 1.2 steals and 4.4 rebounds. Kemba shot a respectable 43 percent from the floor while knocking down 35 percent from the land of the extra point.

As a resident of Charlotte, I can easily tell you that Kemba Walker loves the city of Charlotte and the city loves him back. Over the last eight years, Walker has truly sacrificed his body and his bank account to help the Hornets win.

Let’s be clear here, Kemba Walker wasn’t even close to being the highest paid player on the Hornets last year. For the production Kemba Walker poured out, calling his last contract a hometown discount would be a gross understatement.

Remember the winners of the 2016 salary spike, Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng, who cashed in big for the Lakers a few years ago? Well, some have to lose out and Kemba Walker was one of the players that did when he signed his four-year, $48 million dollar contract before the spike went into effect.

Well, it’s time for the Hornets to pay up in a big way!

Kemba Walker is now eligible for the “super-max” extension of five years at $221 million dollars thanks to his third team All-NBA performance this past season. According to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, Walker has already offered to leave money on the table to help the franchise improve…

"“How can they not be?’ Walker said about calling the Hornets his first priority. “I don’t understand how they can not be my first priority. I’ve been here eight years. They were the team that drafted me. “I don’t know if I’ll sign back with them. I’m not sure. But they are my first priority.” “If it doesn’t work out (with the Hornets), I’m definitely prepared to play somewhere else. But I’d love to be in Charlotte.”"

Let’s get the Lakers rumors started shall we? With Lonzo Ball being traded to New Orleans, the Lakers have Isaac Bonga as the projected starting point guard. Not because he’s the heir apparent to Ball or Rajon Rondo, but because he’s one of only five players under contract.

There are reports that the Lakers are desperately making moves to obtain more cap space. Let’s take a look at what they are facing at this moment.

The Lakers front office got Anthony Davis, but skipped a few steps in the salary cap!

There have been a lot of slick comments about how the Lakers did all right in the deal while not giving up to much. Umm, to those that made those comments, do you want to rescind those comments or recognize the fact that the Lakers made a few mistakes while the Pelicans smile on draft night?

At the beginning of all of this, the Lakers planned to have $32 million dollars in cap space to make a run at a high-level free agent. Only one problem.

You see, if the trade goes through on July 30th, the Lakers can have that cap space and then there’s no problem. If the deal goes down on July 6th, which is the day the free-agent moratorium ends, the cap space goes down to $27 million dollars.

Okay, I see the calculators are out now. Okay good because we are not finished yet.

When Anthony Davis gets traded, he gets a 15 percent trade kicker thanks to the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) which adds up to about $4 million dollars.

Believe it or not, there are some laughable Lakers fans that actually believe that he will give up that money. So now the Lakers are down to about $23 million dollars in cap space. Here’s how the Lakers are trying to get that money.

The Lakers are also trying to buy themselves into the second round so they can have options to offer teams to make deals potentially on draft night.

Let’s just say the Lakers can unload these players listed above. Now the Lakers have three players in Kyle Kuzma, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Last I checked, the rules state a team has to have five players on the floor at all times. If there is a loophole, I’m sure having less than five players is not a recipe of winning.

There was a huge discussion about the Lakers situation on ESPN.

Did you get all of that? Let me give you the short version. The Lakers have very little assets and very little flexibility to execute the grand scheme of getting another star.

Look at it this way. You are at an amusement park. You want to win one of those huge prizes playing games. You finally win the game, but you spent up all of your money trying to get the prize.

Now that you have that big prize you either…

A. Have no money to eat or play any more games or…

B. You can’t ride any roller coaster rides because you’re carrying this big prize around the park.

The Lakers will either have to find a third team to become a part of this deal, which the Pelicans may have done with their big draft night trade with the Atlanta Hawks.

Others believe that the Lakers should spend that money in other ways, but this is the Lakers. They want stars.

Let’s assume this all works out and they chase Kemba Walker. Why? If this works, they really need a point guard because they traded their last one in Bonga.

Kemba Walker will be taking meetings from teams other than the Lakers

There are reports that the New York Knicks and the Dallas Mavericks are also rumored to make a run at Kemba Walker in the offseason. Both teams can offer Walker the max of four years at $140 million dollars. Plus, those teams do not have to jump through hoops to obtain cap space like the Lakers are now.

Do I see the Knicks getting Kemba Walker? No. The only reason that narrative is out there is that he is from New York and everyone loves a homecoming story. Dallas, on the other hand, does have pieces to build on for the future.

Then there is the Hornets who according to Mitch Kupchak, will do everything in their power to keep Kemba Walker in a Hornets uniform.

"Walker is a “once-in-a-generation kind of player” and that “we’ll do everything we can to bring him back here.”"

The Hornets are in quite a situation here. It’s a small market that recently got their buzz back (no pun intended) from a fan base that wanted nothing to do with the team when Bob Johnson was the owner. Remember the Charlotte franchise was known as the Bobcats. The divorce was ugly.

Kemba Walker is the reason that fans come out and watch the Hornets play. This is not an exaggeration. If the Hornets allow him to walk, they will be hard pressed to sell a rebuilding scenario to the fans.

He’s the all-time leader in scoring and owns most of the team’s major statistical records. He just represented the city last year in the All-Star game and he just got invited to the USA team tryouts for the World Cup in China this upcoming September.

Yeah, good luck with that.

When the Lakers were chasing Anthony Davis, Lake Show Life was one of the few Lakers websites that could provide insight from the Pelicans point on view. Now we can provide a realistic view based on what the Hornets are planning.

I reached out to an old friend of mine, Nate Wimberly, the Executive Sports Producer at WBTV in Charlotte NC. If anybody has the insight to the Hornets, it’s him.

I asked him a few questions on what is the atmosphere going on down in Buzz City.

Kemba Walker is up for an extension. We’ve talked for years how he’s underpaid. Do the Hornets pay him? 

Nate Wimberly:

"I don’t think the Hornets can afford that.  He is taking a hometown discount, but they aren’t giving him 221 million. This will be a true negotiation. Kemba is a very loyal dude. He loves Charlotte and really wants to be here. But he wants to win too and doing that here is more difficult than in LA. If they do offer the max and he takes it, it makes improving this team even more difficult because the Hornets salary cap situation is TERRIBLE. This team has to show they are willing to do what it takes to get better but they can’t because all the money tied to players not living up to their contracts."

Nate is being very kind here. The Hornets have overpaid a lot of players that are on the back-end of their careers or have been beset with injuries. I know the Lakers fans remember the last few years of Mitch Kupchak‘s tenure with the Lakers with a roster that was stuck in purgatory.

Blame Magic Johnson if you want to but at least the Lakers have options to move this franchise forward with his moves clearing the salary cap. It took about a year and a half to clean up that mess. For the Hornets, on the other hand, it might even be worse.

The Hornets were in such a mess a couple of years ago, that Rich Cho, the former Hornets GM actually put Walker out there for feelers in possible trade talks. Then Michael Jordan tempered that noise by going on record saying that he wanted no less than an All-Star. Since that point, Kemba was in trade rumors up until the trade deadline.

Well, the Hornets have a lot of work to do. The franchise is stuck with a lot of bad contracts that are virtually immovable with Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist exercising their player options this week. Nicolas Batum? Moving on.

Kemba Loves Charlotte. We both know this. What will it take for the Lakers to pry him away? 

Nate Wimberly:

"30 million and a chance to win big may be all it takes to lure him away. Kemba does love living in Charlotte and not having all the attention that comes with living in a large city. Don’t underestimate that fact about him. It’s not a slam dunk that he goes to LA even though it makes the most sense from a winning standpoint. It has to be towards the 30 million range. He has VASTLY been under paid these last 4 years. He was the 5th highest paid player on the Hornets last year. He won’t take less that what he feels he is worth at this point and who would blame him. He deserves every penny he gets at this point."

The decision Walker makes here will about winning and nothing else. Kemba Walker is approaching 30 years old after finishing his eighth year in the NBA. If it is about winning a title, the Lakers far and away represent the best chance for him to win an NBA title.

He was very appreciative of playing with LeBron James and Anthony Davis during the All-Star game last season.

"“When I first got into the league, I didn’t even know if I belonged,” Walker said of his journey from being the ninth overall draft pick in 2011 to now. “To go from those down times to times like this, times where I’m standing right next to AD (Anthony Davis) or LeBron (James)? Those guys might not know it, but when I’m in a locker room next to those guys, I’m in awe. I can’t even believe I’m here."

Now Kemba Walker has the opportunity to play 82 games with these guys, in a major market and a chance to go far in the playoffs. Something that he has not had the chance to do in his career.

Bottom line: Do you think Michael Jordan keeps him like the reports have said all year?

"I think he goes to LA but I wouldn’t be surprised if he stays. If Kupchak can get creative and pull some miraculous trades that can bring some better talent in, Kemba might be persuaded. MJ and Kemba are meeting in the coming days and he is going to have to do a heck of a job trying to persuade the Captain to stay. I’d say it’s a 75% chance that Kemba leaves. It won’t be easy for him to do it but sometimes it’s just time to move on. If he wants to compete for a championship, LA is the move.  Is money more important than winning? That’s a question Kemba has to ask himself but it’s also a question Jordan and the Hornets has to answer. Put your money where your mouth is."

This will be the decision that will define Michael Jordan as an owner of the Charlotte Hornets. He has been criticized about not being committed to putting a winner on the floor.

Kemba Walker has been one of the more professional players not just on the Hornets but the NBA in general. He has improved every year that he has been in the league and has not complained about a contract that in no way reflects what he has brought to the Hornets franchise.

The Los Angeles Lakers are in the final four for Kemba. Do they nab him? We’ll see.

Lake Show Life will be all over the free agency market for the Lakers this offseason. Keep it locked for constant in-depth updates.