The Charlotte Hornets have agreed on a contract extension with rising point guard Kemba Walker according to ESPN's sources. The Hornets 9th overall pick in the 2011 draft received a four-year, $48 million contract from the team that will kick in at the start of the 2015-16 season.
Walker joins the Cavaliers Kyrie Irving, Nugget's Kenneth Faried, Magic's Nikola Vucevic and Suns twins Markieff and Marcus Morris as extension recipients since the window for such deals opened July 1 according to ESPN's Marc Stein.
This deal means that Charlotte is willing to commit on Walker as their point guard of the future - his contract will expire on his 29th birthday. He lead the team to the playoffs last season, averaging 17.7 points and over six assists, and Hornets owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan felt that it was crucial for him to retain what is perhaps the best draft pick of his executive career, per Yahoo Sports.
And by keeping Walker locked in for the future, Jordan steers clear of the danger of seeing two of his leading players hit the open market next summer in the free agency. Hornets center Al Jefferson is set to become an unrestricted free agent next year and team's will surely try to pry him away from Charlotte especially after his impressive outing last season.
"You are always concerned -- more so with Al because he's totally unrestricted," Hornets owner Michael Jordan told The Charlotte Observer. "They are core pieces of what we're trying to do ... I'd like to keep both of those guys. I say I'd like to and I'd spend the money that's appropriate. I'll make every attempt to keep them."
Kemba Walker led the Charlotte Hornets to the biggest come back in franchise history Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks in their opening game of the 2014-15 campaign. Walker drilled a deep three-pointer to tie the game with 1.6 left and send it to overtime. He then drained a step-back jumper in the dying seconds of the extra period securing the Hornets first victory of the season.
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