The Charlotte Hornets haven’t had a whole lot to celebrate during their time in the NBA, as they have found themselves in the position you really don’t want to be in the league. They have never been quite good enough to be a major factor, and with the exception of a year or two, they have never been bad enough where they are able to land one of the top prospects in the draft.
Whenever they have had a good pick, they usually ended up getting it wrong, and a lot of the blame for it has fallen on the shoulders of owner Michael Jordan. One of the few things that MJ did get right, however, was drafting Kemba Walker with the 9th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Former Hornets Player Reveals Michael Jordan Played 1-On-1 Against Kemba Walker
Walker made 3 All-Star appearances when he was with the Hornets, and you can argue he is the best player in franchise history. While they still didn’t achieve a whole lot in Kemba’s time there, he and MJ did share a special bond.
via NBC Sports:
“[He] also changed my life as well on draft night,” Walker said, via the Celtics. “Never in a million years did I ever think that I would be playing for MJ and be able to have a relationship with him. And I did. That’s like my big brother. I appreciate him. Very grateful to him for what he’s done for me and my family and how he helped me progress through my career.”
Being the competitor that he is, MJ also showed up after practice at times to play some basketball and Troy Daniels, who had a stint with the team, revealed that Jordan did go up against Kemba.
(starts at 2:13 mark):
“I’ve seen him play 1-on-1 a couple of times after practice with a couple of guys. Obviously, he might still think he got it but father time is undefeated. So, the competitiveness is still there, the mindset is still there but your body it might tell you to do one thing.”
“I want to say it was Kemba. It was Kemba or somebody else but to be honest with you, that was (in) 2011. I was in Charlotte (in) 2013, I think I came back 14-15 something like that, so that’s a lot of years down the road as far as him being very active and playing and stuff like that but I think it was Kemba and it was kind of like some nonchalant type thing. It wasn’t like shirts off, let’s get it we sweating hard type thing but father time was undefeated and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
It does seem like Kemba got the better of MJ, which is to be expected considering the age difference. Father time is undefeated, as Daniels pointed out, and not even Jordan can beat it.
Jordan also came under fire recently when Gordon Hayward’s wife took a shot at the team for not protecting their players. It has been another rough season for the Hornets as they have a 6-14 record, but despite that, it would appear MJ doesn’t want them to tank, even if the prize is Victor Wembanyama.
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