Kemba Walker
Kemba Hudley Walker is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is a player enhancement coach for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association. He was picked ninth overall by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2011 NBA draft and also played for the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and the Dallas Mavericks, before finishing his career with AS Monaco. He played college basketball for the Connecticut Huskies. In their 2010–11 season, Walker was the nation's second-leading scorer and was named consensus first-team All-American; he also led the Huskies to a 2011 NCAA championship victory and claimed the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award. Walker is a four-time NBA All-Star, a one-time All-NBA Team member, two-time winner of the NBA Sportsmanship Award, as well as a LNB Élite champion.
High school career
Walker attended Rice High School in Harlem, New York City. During his junior year, Walker played once at Madison Square Garden against Simeon Career Academy and senior guard Derrick Rose in a 53–51 victory. Over his senior year, he posted 18.2 points and 5.3 assists per game, earning him a spot on the prestigious McDonald's All-American Team. He was able to play in the elite New York City Gauchos, the premier AAU basketball program for youth, and was joined by fellow Big East Conference talents-to-be Jordan Theodore, Darryl Bryant, Liam Herman, and Liam Arazi. Walker's team finished No. 1 in the nation.Considered a five-star recruit by Rivals.com, Walker was listed as the No. 5 point guard and the No. 14 player in the nation in 2008.
College career
Freshman year
During his freshman year at the University of Connecticut, Walker played in every contest and was named to the Big East All-Rookie Team. He helped the Huskies achieve a number one seed in the 2009 NCAA tournament. Despite starting in only two games, he averaged 25.5 minutes per contest, easily far more than any regular non-starter. He also helped the Huskies advance to the 2009 Final Four with a 23-point effort in the Elite Eight versus Missouri.Sophomore year
During the Huskies' 2009–2010 season, Walker started in all 34 of their games and contributed an average of 14.6 points. He also led the team in scoring for the eighth time in the last nine games of the season, with 18 points at Virginia Tech. Walker was named by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association to the First Team All-District. Connecticut clinched a 4-seed in the NCAA's 2010 National Invitation Tournament only to fall short to Virginia Tech and finish the relatively disappointing season going 18–16 in conference play.Junior year
Walker rose to national prominence in his third year at Connecticut. This was because, twelve games into his junior campaign, he distinguished himself as the leading scorer in the nation, posting 26.7 points per contest; in addition, Walker averaged 5 rebounds and 3.8 assists. It was then that he appeared on one of the six regional covers of Sports Illustrated magazine.In the 2011 Big East tournament, Walker hit the game-clinching shot at the buzzer to beat Brad Wannamaker and the Pittsburgh Panthers, ranked No. 3 overall, thereby advancing the Huskies to the semifinals. Walker led UConn to victory in the ensuing Big East Championship against the Louisville Cardinals and earned tournament MVP honors in the process. Over five games in as many days, Walker tallied an unprecedented 130 points, a record of points scored for not only the Big East but for any conference tournament in the past 15 seasons. UConn thus became the first school to win five games in five days and earn a conference championship.
On March 14, 2011, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association named Walker First Team All-American with only Fox Sports picking him to the Second Team. His heroic performance in the 2010–11 season also made him a finalist for the Association's college player of the year honors, the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Despite finishing second to national sensation Jimmer Fredette for this award, at least several journalists held that it was rather Walker who deserved the distinction of best player that year. Among other accolades bestowed on him, Walker claimed the Bob Cousy Award for college basketball's top point guard in the nation. On April 4, 2011, Walker, with 16 points himself, rallied and led the University of Connecticut to win the Division I Championship, while he won the honor of NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player. Upon the team's return from Houston, at a pep rally to celebrate the National Title, Walker was added to the Huskies of Honor. He became the first men's basketball player to receive the distinction since the inaugural class was announced in December 2006.
Professional career
Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets (2011–2019)
2011–12 season: Rookie season
Walker graduated from UConn in three years. Accordingly, he entered the 2011 NBA draft and was selected ninth overall by the Charlotte Bobcats. Walker signed a multi-year shoe deal with Under Armour, the first rookie from the 2011 draft class to do so.On December 11, 2011, he signed the rookie scale contract with the Bobcats, and with the injury of point guard D. J. Augustin, he became their starting point guard for the lockout-shortened season. Walker participated in the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star Weekend. However, the Charlotte Bobcats only managed to go 7–59 in the lockout season.
2012–13 season: Sophomore season
On November 14, 2012, Walker hit the first game-winner of his NBA career against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He finished the game with 22 points on 9-of-19 shooting, as well as 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. On January 21, 2013, he scored a then career-high 35 points against the Houston Rockets. During the 2012–13 season, Walker was selected with teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to the 2013 Rising Stars Challenge in which they both scored 8 points.Kemba finished the 2012–13 season with averages of 17.7 points, 5.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 2 steals per contest. He took significant strides over his rookie year.
2013–14 season: First playoff appearance
On December 18, 2013, Walker hit a buzzer-beating jump shot over Jonas Valančiūnas in overtime to beat the Toronto Raptors. He finished the night with 26 points and 5 rebounds on 10/18 shooting from the field. On February 19, 2014, Walker recorded 23 points, 5 rebounds and a career-high 16 assists in a 116–98 win over the Detroit Pistons. Five days later, he was awarded the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, having averaged 22.5 points, 8.8 assists, and 5.5 rebounds in the span of seven days. In a home victory over the Orlando Magic on April 4, 2014, Walker recorded his second career triple-double with 13 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds.Playing against the Miami Heat in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs and with teammate Al Jefferson unable to play due to a Plantar fasciitis injury, Walker had an exceptional game four: he finished the game with a playoff franchise-high 29 points, along with 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. The effort came in a loss as the Heat completed a four-game sweep of the Bobcats.
2014–15 season: Knee surgery
In the newly renamed Charlotte Hornets' opening game against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 29, Walker led an impressive comeback in an overtime 108–106 victory. The Hornets had been 24 points down by the fourth quarter when they staged a comeback; Walker scored a three-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to force overtime and later hit the shot that clinched the game as well. He finished with 26 points, 5 assists, and 6 rebounds. The following day, he signed a four-year, $48 million contract extension with the Hornets. On December 5, 2014, Walker hit his second game-winner of the season in a 103–102 win over the New York Knicks. On December 27, in a 94–102 loss to the Orlando Magic, he scored a then career-high 42 points and set a Charlotte Hornets franchise record for most points scored in a half with his 35 points that he posted in the second. On January 3, against the Orlando Magic, Walker scored 30 points to pass Kendall Gill for 10th place on the Charlotte Hornets all-time scoring list with 4,160 points. In three back-to-back games played between the January 3 and 7, Walker scored 30, 33, and 31 points in victories over the Orlando Magic, the Boston Celtics, and the New Orleans Pelicans respectively; he thereby joined Larry Johnson, Glen Rice, and Kelly Tripucka as one of four players in Charlotte Hornets' franchise history to have three or more consecutive games of scoring 30-plus points. Walker also hit his fifth game-winner of his career and his third of the season on January 7 in the 98–94 victory over the Pelicans. On January 12, he was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, January 5, through Sunday, January 11. Over the week, he led the Hornets to a 4–0 record and averaged 30.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 36.2 minutes, while shooting.500 from the field,.364 from beyond the three-point line and.893 from the free-throw line.On January 28, 2015, Walker was ruled out for six weeks after he underwent successful surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. He returned to action on March 11, after missing 18 games, to score six points in 16 minutes off the bench as the Hornets lost to the Sacramento Kings 106–113.
2015–16 season: Breakthrough
On November 23, 2015, Walker scored a then season-high 39 points in a 127–122 overtime win over the Sacramento Kings. On January 18, 2016, Walker set a career-high and a franchise-record with 52 points in a 124–119 double overtime win over the Utah Jazz. He made 16-of-34 from the field, including 6-of-11 three-pointers, and was 14-of-15 from the free throw line, breaking the team mark of 48 points set by Glen Rice in March 1997. On March 9, in a win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Walker became just the third Hornets player to make 500 career three-pointers, joining Dell Curry and Glen Rice. Five days later, he earned his fourth career Player of the Week award, and second of the 2015–16 season, becoming just the sixth Charlotte player to win the award multiple times in the same season. The Hornets finished the regular season as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 48–34 record. In the first round of the playoffs, the Hornets faced the third-seeded Miami Heat, and in a Game 4 win on April 25, Walker scored a playoff career-high 34 points, helping the Hornets tie the series at 2–2. He topped that mark in Game 6 of the series, scoring 37 points in a 97–90 loss, as the Heat tied the series at 3–3. The Hornets went on to lose Game 7, bowing out of the playoffs with a 4–3 defeat.In May 2016, Walker again underwent surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee.