Charlotte Hornets rumor: Cavs eyeing Kemba Walker trade, May swap Isaiah Thomas
Reports are linking Isaiah Thomas and Kemba Walker in a potential trade between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Charlotte Hornets.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Cleveland Cavaliers have “checked in” with the Charlotte Hornets about the availability of Kemba Walker. Woj recently reported that the Queen City team has been listening to offers regarding Kemba in hopes that they can package him in a deal to help shed one of their larger contracts.
Brian Windhorst, also of ESPN, recently said on The Jump that the Cavs may be willing to deal Isaiah Thomas as part of a swap deal for the Hornets’ all-star point guard.
The full quote from Windhorst reads:
"“The question is… would they consider making Isaiah Thomas available? I can tell you this. It’s going very poorly with Isaiah and the Cavs right now. There is a lot of frustration with the team because he’s a guy who shoots the ball a lot. He holds the ball a lot. And when he’s averaging 30 points and shooting 45 percent from the field as he did last year for the Celtics… things went well. Right now, there’s a lot of frustration with the way Isaiah’s playing on the team. And I wonder, even though it’s so early in terms of his return from injury… I wonder if the Cavs would consider moving Isaiah and would they put in a call to the Hornets to see if they could figure out if they could get Kemba Walker.”"
Hornets’ owner Michael Jordan recently told the Charlotte Observer that they are “not looking to trade point guard Kemba Walker, and would do so only if the return included a major All-Star, such as the San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard.”
It’s worth noting that Isaiah Thomas is a two-time all-star. It’s also worth noting that the Cavs are having issues with Kevin Love, who is a four-time all-star, and he may be on his way out of Cleveland.
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Thomas is averaging 16.1 points per game and 3.6 assists since returning from an injury that kept him out for the first half of the season. The 28-year old is shooting 39.6% from the field, 29.2% from three and 76% from the free throw line.
Isaiah is in the final year of his contract and is making $6.2 million this season. To make his salary match with Kemba, who is making $12 million, the Cavs would need to add another player to the potential trade.
If Charlotte is going to deal Walker, they would ideally like to shed the salary of one of Marvin Williams, Dwight Howard, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Nicolas Batum while doing so. One would think that the Hornets would also like the Brooklyn Nets’ first-round pick from the Cavaliers but Cleveland has stuck to their guns about not moving that pick.
Next: Hornets contact Mavs about facilitating potential Kemba trade
It will be interesting to see what happens leading up to the February 8th trade deadline but more rumors and stories will surely surface in the coming weeks. We’ll have to keep an eye on how well both the Cavs and Hornets play going forward as their struggles or success could dictate potential moves.