NBA trade rumors: Hornets taking offers for Kemba Walker

As the Charlotte Hornets move through a dismal season, Kemba Walker is firmly on the trade block with the deadline on the horizon.

The Charlotte Hornets, with some injuries and head coach Steve Clifford missing a month due to a health issue playing a role, are 18-25 and in 11th place (four games out of a playoff spot) in the Eastern Conference. A 6-4 mark in their last 10 games offers a glimmer of hope, but the Hornets are shaping up to be a seller as the trade deadline approaches Feb. 8.

The Hornets may be ready to go into full-on sell mode. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has reported they’re encouraging teams to make trade offers for point guard Kemba Walker. With some bad contracts on the roster, like Nicolas Batum, Dwight Howard, Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the broader idea is to attach Walker to a larger deal where another team would take on one of those bad contracts.

Walker is having another excellent season this year, averaging 21.7 points, 5.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game while shooting just over 42 percent from the floor and a little less than 35 percent from beyond the arc. He’s also a remarkable value contract-wise, making $12 million this season and next season before he can hit free agency.

Trading Walker would obviously be a franchise-altering, and re-setting, move for the Hornets. But they seem to be stuck in neutral, with two playoff appearances in the previous four full seasons under Clifford, and a bold move to trade their best player has to be on the radar.

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Given his track record, with a particular reference back to the aforementioned bad contracts, it’s worth questioning if general manager Rich Cho is the man to pull of a blockbuster trade with Walker as the centerpiece from Charlotte’s end.