Kemba Walker officially made available, but Utah Jazz’s chances would be slim

An ESPN report has indicated that the Charlotte Hornets are officially making Kemba Walker available in trade talks. However, the Utah Jazz’s chances of landing him would be slim to none.

Just this morning I was thinking, “Man, it’s been a little slow on the trade rumors front lately.” No sooner had that thought left my mind than Mr. Adrian “Woj Bomb” Wojnarowski came through for me with an announcement regarding the Charlotte Hornets’ Kemba Walker.

Read for yourself what Mr. Woj had to say in the headline below:

Yep, you saw that right. Sources indicate that the Charlotte Hornets have indeed made Kemba Walker available on the trade market.

Is this surprising? Well, yes and no. I recently covered Kemba Walker as a potential trade target for the Utah Jazz following a piece from The Washington Posts’ Tim Bontemps in which he described how the soon-to-be financially struggling and under-achieving Hornets may have little chance for truly hitting the reset button without moving Kemba. In that regard, it made a lot of sense for the Hornets to see what they could get in return for their All-Star point guard.

However, not long after that, Basketball Insiders’ Steve Kyler stated that it was unlikely that Kemba would be moved and Walker himself also made his dedication to Charlotte and hopes for staying with the team quite clear. Nevertheless, I’d take Woj’s word over Kyler’s and a player’s wishes are seldom the final say on whether he’s traded or not.

That said, it’s still possible that both Woj and Kyler could be in the right here. Perhaps the Hornets really are open to trading him as the ESPN report suggests, but it still may be unlikely that anything comes of it as Kyler said. One of the principal reasons for this is that the Hornets are clearly going to be want a handsome return for their star point guard and as they try to seek out financial relief, part of the stipulation of trading for him will likely include taking on one or more of their burdensome contracts.

Each of the contracts of Dwight Howard (two years, $47 million) Nic Batum (four years, $100 million) Marvin Williams (three years, $42 million) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (three years $39 million) are absolutely horrible value, especially considering each of those players’ recent production. Those would be hard for any team to take on, even if they were getting Kemba in the exchange.

Not to mention, it would be perfectly justifiable to expect a first-round pick and/or some extremely nice pieces for Walker. So, in essence, in order for any team to get this sort of deal done, they’d likely have to give up a decent haul while also taking on a whale of a contract, just to secure Kemba’s services.

That’s risky business for any team, but especially for the Utah Jazz. Look, as I mentioned in my previous piece on Kemba Walker, I would absolutely LOVE to have him in a Jazz uniform. His ability to run the point and capability of going off on any given night are both absolutely phenomenal traits. I’d love to see what kind of havoc a backcourt of Kemba and Donovan Mitchell could wreak on opposing teams.

However, I don’t see the Jazz being able to come up with what the Hornets want unless Dennis Lindsey is able to fleece Charlotte’s front office or some sort of mind-boggling three-team deal is put into effect. Even then, it’s hard to see any third team participating when landing Kemba isn’t their prize. What are they going to do, supply a first-round pick and take on the contracts of Batum and Howard? Preposterous.

Even if the Hornets did end up wanting, say, Utah’s first round pick, and a couple of players in order to give up Kemba and a bad contract such as that of Nic Batum (which even in and of itself is a long shot, so just bear with me), I don’t know that it’d be wise at all for the Jazz to do. Utah likely wants to get Dante Exum back on the court and healthy and see what a backcourt duo of Exum and Mitchell appears capable of before executing a trade for another starting guard.

Beyond that, if they were to take on a contract such as the one of Nic Batum, it could very well handcuff them for years to come. Jazz brass has made it quite clear that attempting to make a splash with ample cap space in the coming summers is a big priority and while having Walker on the roster would be a nice early splash, taking him along with Batum might hurt the Jazz later on, especially considering that if Mitchell and Exum pan out together and Batum continues to struggle, the guard position won’t be where Utah’s main weakness resides.

Some have suggested that maybe a change of scenery would be ideal for Batum and putting him on the Jazz could help revamp his career and end up being a positive for Utah, allowing them to then have a formidable Kemba along with a restored Batum. This is definitely an appealing thought, but it’s probably more wishful thinking than anything. Batum is still under 30 years old, but it nevertheless feels like the risk in such a move definitely outweighs the reward.

So before any Jazz fans get too giddy about the possibility of the team seeking after Kemba Walker now that reports have indicated that he is indeed on the trade block, they’d probably be wise to pump the breaks. I’d love to see Kemba in Salt Lake City as much as anybody, but bringing him on board would probably require too high an asking price, one that other teams could certainly outbid Utah on, and too detrimental of a contract being attached along with him, one that would be more of a risk than it’s worth.

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The Utah Jazz may very well look to swing for the fences and pull of a monumental move leading up to this year’s trade deadline, but it would be nothing short of shocking if that home run play involved bringing Kemba Walker into the fold.