Should The Charlotte Hornets Retire Kemba Walker's Number?
Walker spent his first eight years in the NBA with the Hornets
On Thursday, point guard Kemba Walker announced his retirement from the NBA. Throughout his 12-year career, he played four teams which include the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks. But his most notable one is the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets.
Even though the Hornets remained unsuccessful, Walker still had numerous great moments that made the organization somewhat hopeful. With that considered, an argument could be made that they should retire his jersey number, making him only the second player in franchise history to have his jersey hung up in the rafters.
Walker’s talent was visible at the beginning. After being selected by Charlotte as the ninth overall pick in the 2011 draft, he went on to have a decent rookie campaign. He logged in averages of 12.1 points and 4.4 assists, allowing him to finish 11th in voting for the Rookie of the Year award.
The Hornets continued to ride Walker’s talents in hopes of a bright future. For the next seven years, he averaged 20.8 points, as well as 5.6 assists and 1.4 steals. To go along with those numbers, he developed into a four-time All-Star and an All-NBA player. The 2018-19 season was arguably his best one as he recorded 25.6 points, 5.9 assists and 1.4 steals a contest. He even put together a career-high 60-point performance in November.
Walker also led the Hornets to the postseason twice, something that hasn’t been done since 2010. Even though they lost in the Eastern Conference first round both times, he wasn’t to blame. In those two playoff appearances, he averaged a combined 21.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
During the summer of 2019, Walker left the Hornets and joined the Celtics, ending his incredible tenure. To this day, he leads the franchise in all-time points with 12,009 and 3-pointers made with 1,283. He is eighth in rebounds (2,317), second in assists (3,308) and third in steals (799).
It has yet to be announced if the Hornets will retire his jersey number but he makes a valid case for it.
Cory Nelson is a contributor to Fansided’s Wiz of Awes. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson, Instagram @ckenzynelson, and Threads @ckenzynelson