Kemba Walker reveals Michael Jordan moment that changed his career
07/05/2024 04:19 PM
This week, former Charlotte Hornets star Kemba Walker announced his retirement from basketball. While Walker played for other teams in the NBA as well, his Hornets tenure is what he’s most remembered for. Kemba Walker developed into a star player, and during a recent appearance on Carmelo Anthony’s podcast, ‘7pm in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & The Kid Mero,’ he revealed it was a conversation with Michael Jordan that set him on his Hornets star trajectory.
“My moment with him, this is my second year in the league, and we had a couple new players. I’m young, we had a couple older guys. I didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes so I’m kind of deferring a little bit,” Walker said. “I guess he kind of realized it, so he called me in the office and he closed the door. I’m like what’s going on, so he looked me in my face and said, ‘I didn’t bring you here to defer. I drafted you myself. I didn’t draft you here to defer or be the way you are.’
“‘I want you to be aggressive, I want you to play how you played at UConn.’ He gave me the keys that was it, he gave me the keys right there, that’s what I needed to hear. In my head I’m like I ain’t letting this man down, I’m not letting him down. He picked me himself, he traded up in the draft to get me, and he gave me that pep talk, I’m like this man must really believe in me.”
Michael Jordan was still the owner of the Hornets when they selected Kemba Walker with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. At that time, they were still the Charlotte Bobcats. They wouldn’t rebrand as the Hornets until the 2014-15 season.
Kemba Walker’s rise to stardom during his Hornets tenure
Kemba Walker played 12 seasons in the NBA, with eight of those 12 seasons playing for the Bobcats/Hornets. He was a four-time NBA All-Star with three of those appearances coming while he was in a Hornets jersey. Walker is arguably the greatest player in franchise history.
Walker’s best NBA season statistically was arguably his final year with the Hornets during the 2018-19 season. He played all 82 games and averaged a career-high 25.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.2 steals with splits of 43.4 percent shooting from the field, 35.6 percent shooting from the three-point line and 84.4 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
That would be Walker’s final season with the Hornets. The following season he was acquired by the Boston Celtics in a sign and trade deal with the Hornets. Walker’s first season with the Celtics was also his final All-Star selection.
Walker would end up playing two seasons for the Celtics before being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2021 offseason. The Thunder would ultimately buyout his contract and he would sign with the New York Knicks. His 2021-22 season was cut short due to injury.
Walker was traded that offseason to the Detroit Pistons who also bought out his contract. He signed with the Dallas Mavericks but only appeared in nine games before the waived him. That was his final NBA season as he spent 2023-24 playing overseas in Monaco.
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