Charlotte Hornets majority owner Michael Jordan called Kemba Walker ahead of this year's Feb. 8 trade deadline to assure the point guard the organization wasn't actively seeking to trade him, as head coach Steve Clifford told ESPN's Zach Lowe on The Lowe Post podcast.
"... Michael had called him, spoke to him and explained to him that we weren't looking to trade him. And basically we went through the whole thing. Kemba said Michael was very forthcoming and said, 'Hey, listen. If there was an unbelievable trade where Player A and Player B, and it would make our team a lot better, of course, anybody could be traded.' But I explained to him, 'Look, you're not gonna be traded. You're gonna be here. You're the face of our franchise.’ And I thought Kemba handled it great."
Rumors swirled before the deadline that the Hornets had put Walker on the trade block. Jordan even left open the caveat in January the team would only move him if it received an All-Star in return, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.
"I think I was just more proactive with him, just explaining to him that, A, there's no untradable player. ... Go back to NBA history; any player could be traded," Clifford told Lowe. "But, B, I told him...it would be very difficult to find a scenario where he could be traded.
"And the fact that there were rumors, which is going to happen, is because he's such a good player making less money than he's worth by a lot. So of course, there's going to be calls."
Read 0 Comments
Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation