NBA Trade Deadline 2018: The 20 best players available

4. Kemba Walker, Charlotte Hornets

This year’s edition of the Charlotte Hornets are the definition of NBA purgatory. A series of ill-advised decisions during the free-wheeling 2016 offseason sent them into salary-cap hell, and with nearly $116.4 million already on the books for next season, they’ll have few avenues of improving through free agency this summer.

Since the Hornets are nowhere near playoff contention this season and are poised to pay the luxury tax for the first time ever next year, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post suggested in early January that they should entertain the idea of trading away Kemba Walker. With his contract set to expire following the 2018-19 season, it’s difficult to see his incentive to re-sign in Charlotte aside from the franchise’s ability to offer him slightly more money than any other suitor.

“By making a move like this, there would be pain for Charlotte,” Bontemps wrote. “Walker is a terrific player and an easy guy to root for, and the team would go from hoping for a playoff spot to staring at a long rebuild. But these are the kinds of decisions that teams like the Hornets are going to face.”

If the Hornets do put Walker on the market, they should find no shortage of interested suitors. Most teams are well-situated at point guard — whether they have a All-Star-caliber starter or a young player who they hope to groom into such a player — but at least a half-dozen teams could be in the market for a new floor general, especially one who only costs $12 million both this season and next.

Would the Phoenix Suns be willing to part ways with one of their young prospects along with a first-round pick or two? Are the Denver Nuggets still in the market for a point guard, or has second-year man Jamal Murray won them over? Charlotte should at least shop Walker behind the scenes and explore his market in case its season goes further south over the coming weeks.

Next: 3. Marc Gasol