Kemba Walker went out like champ

Kemba Walker scored 43 points in what proved to be the final game of Charlotte’s season — and maybe his Hornets career. It was yet another superhuman performance from the 6-foot-on-paper point guard who has given his all to the franchise that drafted him in 2011.

Case-in-point: Walker scored or assisted on Charlotte’s first 18 fourth-quarter points. The Hornets eventually lost to the Magic, 122-114, though a win wouldn’t have mattered anyway due to results elsewhere.

If one thing is certain, it’s this: Walker went out like a champ.

Charlotte was already facing steep odds. The Hornets had won eight of their last 11 games entering the season finale, largely thanks to Walker, who averaged 28.6 points during that stretch. The Hornets needed the Detroit Pistons to lose to the New York Knicks — the league-worst, 17-65 New York Knicks — and they needed to beat a tough-nosed Orlando Magic team, albeit in Charlotte, to make the playoffs.

Walker gave everything he had, shooting 16-of-25 from the field, a perfect 7-of-7 from the line and drilling four of his nine three pointers. It wasn’t enough to make the playoffs. It wasn’t even enough to win the game. It hasn’t been enough all season.

Here’s the thing, though: We already knew this.

We knew Charlotte didn’t have a championship roster, let alone a playoff roster. We knew this season would be the Walker Show. We knew the Hornets didn’t have enough playmakers or scorers around Walker to make a playoff run, and even if they somehow did, it would be a five-game max first-round exit. We knew Charlotte couldn’t trade for another star because they have bad contracts with not enough attractive assets.

We knew the Hornets are a team stuck in limbo. Walker did, too.

But he didn’t pout. He didn’t request a trade. He didn’t badmouth his coach or teammates to the press, try to get somebody fired, or distance himself from his teammates. Not at all.

This season, we watched both Jimmy Butler and Anthony Davis force their teams into terrible situations. Butler verbally butchered everyone from teammates to management in Minnesota until they dealt him to Philadelphia. Davis’ camp tried every single trick in the book to get him traded to Los Angeles. When he didn’t get moved by the deadline, it created an impossible situation in New Orleans. In his final game, he wore a “That’s all folks” T-shirt and offered a ridiculous explanation for it.

We didn’t hear a peep from Walker, except about how much he loves the city of Charlotte and how he’d love to retire there, if they can put together a winning team around him. Other than that, he put his head down, played in all 82 games, put up career bests across the board and gave everything he had.

Walker will become an unrestricted free agent for the first time on July 1. He will do so after averaging a career-high 25.4 points and 5.9 assists per game. He will also do so after seeing the playoffs only twice in eight NBA seasons.

Walker deserves to seek everything he wants. He’s said he wants to play in Charlotte, but he’s also said he wants to play with winners, preferably with another all-star-caliber player.

The Hornets can’t make that happen. They wouldn’t have significant cap room until the summer of 2020, and it’s hard to see any marquee free agent considering them anyway. By then Walker would be 30 years old, earning just about $40 million. Truthfully, re-signing Walker would only delay Charlotte’s rebuild and extend their stretch of mediocrity. Tanking this season would have helped them, but Kemba Walker is no loser.

The truth of the matter is if Walker wants to win, he needs to do it elsewhere, right now. Basketball windows only last but so long. Father Time is undefeated. Walker probably has three or four really good years left in him. He can’t afford to waste any more time.

That’s not to say Walker’s time in Charlotte was a waste. Charlotte provided Walker an opportunity to grow as a man and as a basketball player. He remembers the fans accepting his flaws when he shot 36 percent from the field and 30 percent from three as a rookie. He tirelessly worked on his game. Walker became an all-star starter this season.

But now, that all-star starter deserves the chance to play with other all-stars. He deserves the chance to compete for something bigger than a chance at a playoff appearance. He deserves the opportunity to compete alongside the league’s best, be it in Charlotte, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, or anywhere else. He deserves to be happy, whatever happiness means to him.

Walker laid it all out there. His season included a 60-point game in an overtime loss to Philly, 14 games with at least 35 points, and 100-percent effort every time he touched the floor. Wednesday’s loss could very well have been Walker’s last game in Charlotte, and while the franchise never made it past the first round in his time there, there’s only one way to remember him.

Walker went out like a champ. He deserves to be happy with whatever he decides to do this summer.