5 trades to get Kemba Walker the help he deserves

Similarly to San Antonio, New Orleans finds themselves outside of the playoff window a quarter of the way through the season. Dissimilarly to the Spurs, the Pelicans aren’t a bastion of stability and their once-in-a-generation superstar only has one additional season on his contract after this one before his player option. If they fall further from contention, the telltale clock will only tick louder.

Yes, this is a pipedream. But if the Pelicans continue to drudge outside the playoff picture and their brass believes Anthony Davis will pack up his unibrow and leave in two years, they could make a preemptive move.

Getting Davis as a non-rental only makes him more valuable. They can use him to attach Jrue Holiday’s long-term money and Solomon Hill’s empty calorie contract and hit the reset button.

With Miles Bridges and Malik Monk, New Orleans would essentially be bringing in four first-round picks. That’s a solid haul.

Would the Hornets be shallow after this trade? Sure. But they’d still have enough juice to flush out a rotation, albeit a top-heavy one. It’s the East, depth is overrated anyway.

Imagine how devastating a Walker-Davis pick-and-roll would be with Holiday flanking them. Wouldn’t they immediately transform into the team nobody would want to see in the playoffs? That’s much more daunting than having a ceiling of the No. 6 seed and stealing two games in a first-round exit.

Walker’s been an island unto himself for far too long. He’s done more with less than any other star in the league. It’d be great to finally see what he could do with more.