Boston Celtics: Kemba Walker’s knee is still a lingering issue

The uncertain status of Kemba Walker’s knee is unfortunate and is going to hold him back to start the season for the Boston Celtics.

The Boston Celtics find themselves in an unfortunate but familiar situation in regards to Kemba Walker and his lingering knee injury.

In a recent interview on the Ryan and Goodman Podcast with Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens explained and gave an update on how the team is going to move forward with their veteran All-Star point guard.

"“The key to this whole thing with him is just to strengthen the knee. And continuing to take this opportunity when we’re not playing, when we’re not practicing, to really focus on that, very similar to what we did at the beginning of the bubble. I think that there will be a transition like that because of the shortened season. It’ll be some time before he’s going full speed for us for sure.” – Brad Stevens, per Ryan and Goodman podcast"

It’s worth mentioning that this isn’t Walker’s first go-around with this knee injury. Prior to joining the Celtics, Walker had two surgeries in back-to-back years in 2015 and 2016 during his tenure with the Charlotte Hornets to repair a torn meniscus in his knee.

This isn’t to say that the left knee soreness he experienced last season in Boston (which resulted in him having his knee drained) is related to those previous surgeries, but it is the same left knee that he’s already had problems with throughout his career.

During the first eight seasons of his career, Walker has been one of the most durable and reliable players in the NBA. He only missed 32 games in that span while with the Hornets and only six games over the last four seasons which included campaigns of 81, 79, 80, and 82 game seasons. In doing so, Walker averaged over 34 minutes per game in that span.

Due to this, Boston Celtics fans are beginning to wonder if Walker’s impressive durability and determination to produce for his team throughout his career is finally beginning to catch up with the veteran All-Star point guard as he enters his 10th NBA season at 30 years old.

Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer covered Walker during his eight years with the Hornets and saw firsthand just how determined Walker is to be reliable for his team. He recently joined NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics Talk Podcast with Chris Forsberg and Kyle Draper and shared some insight about the point guard.

"“Kemba is so tough that he is genuinely his own worst enemy. Kemba was determined to play all 82 games in the season before this, and he did. That was not a good idea. It was a pride thing to him. In the long haul, that doesn’t make sense. There were definitely times when Steve Clifford would say to Kemba, ‘Look, you need to tell us when you’re not feeling right and that knee is bothering you, and let us be party to the decision about whether you should sit down for a game or two.’ ” – Rick Bonnell, per The Celtics Talk Podcast"

Bonnell added:

"“If I were Danny, before training camp starts, I would sit (Walker) down and have a real long talk about, ‘You’re not a kid anymore, and you need to have honest conversations with our medical people whenever you don’t feel quite right.’ “ – Rick Bonnell, per The Celtics Talk Podcast"

In his first season in Boston, Walker was only limited to 56 games during the regular season and was on a minutes restriction in the bubble during the Celtics’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals. It was a playoff run where Walker struggled to find his groove as the confident scorer that he is.

Many people suggested that Walker’s struggles in the playoffs were because he had never traveled that far into the postseason before joining the Celtics and the experience was essentially new to him. It likely had more to do with his knee injury than anything because, at the end of the day, no matter where you are in a season, the mechanics of basketball stay the same.

When a shooter is dealing with a knee injury, he is going to come up short on his shots, hit the front of the rim or even air-ball his shot. That’s exactly what we saw from Walker during the playoffs last year.

At this point in his career, it’s not likely that Walker will be a 30 plus minutes per game player anymore, and that’s okay.  Limiting his minutes moving forward seems to be what will be best for the team and himself in regards to lengthening his overall career and being a contributor in Boston for at least the remainder of his contract with the Celtics.