1. Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets are in trouble. Their star player, Kemba Walker, is set to be an unrestricted free agent after this season. Without Walker, the Hornets would basically be irrelevant.
Walker is averaging 26.0 points, 6.3 assists and 4.5 points per game this season and has proven he can be the best player on a good team. Luckily for the Hornets, the East is probably bad enough for the Hornets to go .500 and make the playoffs. But if the Hornets want to keep Kemba around for the long haul, they need to get him some help.
Out of players that have played in 15 games or more this season, Walker is 8th in the league in usage rate. He’s ahead of guys like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Oladipo, Damian Lillard and Donovan Mitchell.
Jabari Parker might not be the long-term answer for the Hornets, but he’s definitely capable of helping take some offensive pressure off of Kemba.
Parker is a skilled playmaker, a really good scorer and has shown that he can play in a starting or reserve role. If the Hornets wanted to start Parker at the four instead of Marvin Williams, they could. If they would rather bring Parker off the bench, they could do that, too.
On the season, Jabari Parker is averaging 15.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game on 45.5 percent shooting from the field. There’s no doubt in my mind that Jabari could help the Hornets win some ball games. He might even thrive in a new role with a new team.
Parker would likely be the second or third scoring option next to Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb. A young, athletic, scoring forward would help the Hornets tremendously as they attempt to make a playoff run and re-sign their star player.