Which teams should trade for Kemba Walker?
— -- Less than three weeks from the NBA trade deadline, the market got more interesting Friday when ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Charlotte Hornets have made All-Star point guard Kemba Walker available.
What are possible destinations for Walker? And what kind of offers might the Hornets get as they seek to offload their bad, long-term contracts and get draft picks or young talent in return? Let's take a look at a few possible Walker deals.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Hornets get: Guard Isaiah Thomas, center Channing Frye, Brooklyn 2018 first-round pick
Cavaliers get: Guard Kemba Walker, center Johnny O'Bryant
View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine
Yes, I wrote Thursday that the Cavaliers should hold on to the Nets' pick rather than trading it to improve their championship hopes this season. But that was under the assumption that DeAndre Jordan was the best player likely to be traded by the deadline, and Walker's availability would make things more interesting.
Dealing for Walker would be a hedge against the possibility that Thomas doesn't get back to All-Star level after his hip injury. Walker's also a little bigger, which makes him a better defensive option against the NBA's best teams. And Cleveland would be buying another year of team control. While Thomas will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, the Cavaliers either would be getting cost certainty with Walker making $12 million in the final season of his contract or have the ability to trade him if LeBron James departs via free agency.
From Charlotte's perspective, the Brooklyn pick is the best they're likely to get offered for Walker, and the Hornets might also be able to flip Thomas for another expiring contract before the deadline and get additional picks. However, making this move would prevent them from gaining additional cap relief.
Detroit Pistons
Hornets get: Guard Reggie Jackson, forwards Henry Ellenson, Stanley Johnson and Anthony Tolliver, draft picks
Pistons get: Guard Kemba Walker and forward Marvin Williams
View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine
Few teams would benefit more from adding Walker than the Pistons, who would be an enormous upgrade over Jackson at point guard and could push Detroit into the East's top four teams. Williams would also be a great fit for the Pistons as a stretch 4.
The challenge for the Pistons is getting Charlotte to sign off on a deal that offers little cap relief (Tolliver's $3.3 million contract is the only expiring one the Hornets would get) and no exciting young players or picks. Detroit would have to hope Charlotte still believes in Johnson's potential or offer multiple first-round picks to make this deal attractive.
Indiana Pacers
Hornets get: Guard Darren Collison, forward Bojan Bogdanovic, center Al Jefferson, 2018 first-round pick
Pacers get: Guard Kemba Walker and center Dwight Howard
View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine
No team could realistically offer the Hornets more cap relief than the Pacers, who have three players on large contracts with limited 2018-19 guarantees. (Together, Bogdanovic, Collison and Jefferson are guaranteed $7.5 million next season -- about $28.5 million less than Howard and Walker will make.) Is that worth getting only a draft pick that would likely drop into the 20s? Probably not, but if financial flexibility is the priority, Charlotte wouldn't do much better than this deal.
Pairing Walker and Victor Oladipo would give Indiana one of the NBA's best backcourts and would give the Pacers, just 2.5 games out of fourth in the East, a chance at winning their first playoff series since they reached the 2014 Eastern Conference finals.
One interesting alternative: Indiana could take on the remaining three-plus years on Nicolas Batum's contract. Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard acquired Batum in Portland (in a draft-night trade), and he would fill a need at small forward. Swapping Howard out of this deal for Batum would allow the Hornets to create far more long-term savings.
New York Knicks
Hornets get: Guards Ron Baker, Jarrett Jack and Frank Ntilikina
Knicks get: Guard Kemba Walker
View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine
Because they're in need of a point guard, and because Walker is from New York, the Knicks will inevitably be?mentioned as a destination. Alas, they can't offer Charlotte much in the way of cap relief. So the Knicks are probably reliant on the Hornets viewing Ntilikina as a better prospect than they could get elsewhere.
Phoenix Suns
Hornets get: Guard Tyler Ulis, forwards Dragan Bender and Jared Dudley, centers Greg Monroe and Alan Williams
Suns get: Guards Michael Carter-Williams, Julyan Stone and Kemba Walker, centers Dwight Howard and Johnny O'Bryant
View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine
Like Indiana, Phoenix could offer Charlotte major cap relief in the form of Monroe's $17.9 million expiring contract and a non-guarantee on Williams' 2018-19 salary. As compared to the Pacers, the Suns have more young talent to sweeten an offer. I've included 2016 No. 4 overall pick Dragan Bender here, but fellow 2016 lottery pick Marquese Chriss would fit too, or Phoenix could offer Miami's 2018 first-round pick.
While Walker and Devin Booker would make an outstanding backcourt, the question is how motivated the Suns would be to acquire a 28-year-old point guard not long after trading Eric Bledsoe to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Utah Jazz
Hornets get: Guards Rodney Hood and Ricky Rubio, forward Derrick Favors, 2018 first-round pick
Jazz get: Guard Kemba Walker, forwards Jeremy Lamb and Marvin Williams
View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine
Utah could offer an intriguing combination of cap flexibility and talent to Charlotte. The Jazz's short-term contracts come attached to quality players; Favors would surely have some value to a third team as a rental in the final season of his deal, while Rodney Hood could be worth re-signing as a restricted free agent.
Would Utah be willing to offer this much given the Jazz are currently five games out of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference? Perhaps not, but this deal would give Utah a compelling alternative to testing free agency this summer, and Williams would be a good fit as a stretch 4 next to Rudy Gobert. A starting lineup of Walker, rookie Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Williams and Gobert would make the Jazz favorites to return to the playoffs in 2018-19.
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