Is Boston Celtics star Kemba Walker the Nicest Dude in the NBA? An Investigation
Kemba Walker returned to Charlotte for the first time last night in an emotional coming-home game, and everything but the game itself crystallized one simple fact: the Boston Celtics employ the nicest dude in the NBA.
The reception Kemba Walker received upon returning to the Spectrum Center in Charlotte was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The Hornets had an electric tribute video before the game, highlighting the 8 years Walkers spent dragging a criminally mismanaged Charlotte team to 40 wins and several playoff appearances. The crowd showed their gratitude for Kemba with a one minute long standing ovation. The cheers for Boston Celtics star Kemba’s introduction was louder than that of any of the home players, and the moment brought Walker nearly to tears.
It almost assuredly factored into his rough performance on the court, where we scored a meager 12 points on 4 of 18 from the field. The game itself was mostly a bore. The Boston Celtics were in control virtually the entire game cruising to a 107-93 victory, their sixth straight (!), led by 23 points from Jayson Tatum and 20 from Gordon Hayward. But the story of the night was without a doubt Kemba Walker. Seeing the way he was received by the Hornets fans (and thinking about the reception a certain ex-Boston Celtics point guard might get) really got me thinking about this simple question:
Is Kemba Walker the nicest man in the NBA?
I’m not talking about “nice” on the court. No, we already knew that. New Englanders remember fondly Kemba leading the UConn Huskies to the NCAA championship in 2011. Personally, I will never forget the devastating crossover-stepback-buzzerbeater he put on Gary McGhee in the 2011 Big East Tournament to take out Brad Wannamakers Pitt Panthers. And how could we forget the 60-piece Kemba dropped on us last season (in a Hornets loss). No, I’m taking about “nice” as in the off-the-court kind of nice.
As I wrote about at-length, NBA breakups are tough. However Kemba leaving the Hornets might be the most amicable one I’ve even seen in this new player empowerment era. Walker very easily could have been bitter towards the Hornets who essentially low-balled him last offseason. He was in line for the “super-max” extension after making the All-NBA Third Team, ballooning his max salary from around $190 million to a ludicrous $220 million, and Charlotte seemingly just didn’t want to pay. Perhaps owner Michael Jordan needed that extra money for ill-fitting suits or to get his “ultra premium” tequilla brand off the ground.
In any case, they offered him a $160 million deal, in what basically amounted to a slap in the face. It could have devolved into an ugly situation, the team spurning Walker due to some combination of cap mismanagement and an unwillingness to fairly compensate their franchises greatest player. Walker ended his career in Charlotte the franchises all-time leader in points and minutes, nearly 2,000 points ahead of legend Dell Curry. Kemba deserved better than the way management let him walk.
In all the research I have done I can’t find even a sniff of information denigrating him or his character. Kemba Walker has won two NBA Sportsmanship awards (2019 and 2018), which according to the NBA is given to the player that “exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court with ethical behavior, fair play, and integrity.” Not a story about how he stiffed a waiter on the road, showed up to practice late, or made a rookie carry his bags to the bus.
His teammates and coaches had nothing but positive things to say about him. Ex-teammates, coaches, and media members alike heaped nothing but praise upon their franchises greatest player. “I love that guy” said Hornets coach James Borrego after the game last night. Ex-teammate Cody Zeller even wore a custom pair of shoes declaring “We Miss You, Kemba”.
Not only is Kemba a paragon of sportsmanship and professionalism, he is truly a positive force in the community. He was greeted pre-game by four Charlotte-area youngsters he has been mentoring for several years, whom he promised he would be their friend and mentor for life (I am welling just writing this).
In 2018 he was nominated for the NBA Cares Community Assist Award. The previous year In he participated in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders Campaign, where he and other NBA players traveled to South Africa to run clinics and build new basketball courts. Before that, in the wake of the tragic Orlando nightclub shooting, Kemba authored a stirring Players’ Tribune article calling upon his fellow NBA players to use their platform as athletes to speak up for what they believe in and to be positive forces in their community.
He is truly more than an athlete, and has walked the walk.
The only shred of any malfeasance whatsoever is Walkers association with the New York Gauchos, a premier Bronx-based AAU team, that was embroiled in a 2017 FBI pay-for-play sting nearly a decade after Walkers time there. Really the only reason I bring it up is that the FBI ensnared then Louisville coach Rick Pitino in the sting, who had to resign and vacate his 2013 NCCA title, a team led by none other than Terry Rozier, former Boston Celtics point guard during their magical 2018 playoff run and Walker’s replacement in Charlotte. But we all know that college basketball is about a corrupt an institutions as there is, and Kemba’s oblique relationship to any of this is probably not even worth writing. I digress.
Gordon Hayward is proving his worth in 2019-20. dark. Next
By all accounts Kemba Walker is a consummate professional, a humble and supportive leader, a positive force in his community, and an all-around stand up guy. I feel so fortunate rooting for not only a superstar player on the court, but a superstar human being off the court. The more I read about him, the more this conclusion becomes clear:
Kemba Walker is, in fact, the nicest dude in the NBA.