Boston Celtics starting point guard Kemba Walker has been playing a lot of basketball since signing with his new team, and plans on playing a lot more than he is used to, too.
The UConn product has had a career of short season until now (save, of course, that historic run with his collegiate team, though even that pales in comparison to even a regular NBA season at 41 games).
And speaking of NBA seasons, despite being one of the most durable players in the league over the course of his career, he’s been missing a lot of time lately.
The most of his career since 2014-15, actually, when he tore a meniscus and missed six weeks as a Charlotte Hornet.
Kemba Walker said his knee is sore, but he’s OK. Said it didn’t make sense to try to play through it tonight. Said he had an MRI a few weeks ago and it was pretty clean. He thinks it’s just the accumulation of a lot of basketball.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) February 2, 2020
Aside from that, Walker has played in at least 73 of 82 games his entire career (the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season of his rookie year aside, which he played all of).
But he has rarely played more than 82 games in a season, when counting postseason runs; in fact, his highest-ever playoff total was just seven games, when the Hornets took a Miami Heat franchise in their second season without LeBron James to the brink before falling in a Game 7 blowout.
That season, Walker played in 81 of 82 regular-season games for a total of 88.
This summer, the Bronx native played as many games as part of Team USA in the 2019 FIBA World Cup — not counting any of the extra practices or exhibition games.
So when you consider the fact that Boston hopes to play at least an additional eight games in the 2020 NBA playoffs (and should be expected to have a good chance at doing so), it makes sense that the former Husky isn’t especially worried he’s needed to take more games off than any other healthy season than 2013-14.
Kemba played all 82 last season. Knee acting up again. https://t.co/JILgPI6eEh
— Rick Bonnell (@rick_bonnell) February 1, 2020
“I played a lot of basketball from summertime to now,” Walker offered on why he needed time off to rest his sore knee (via the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy). “Just a lot of games, I mean, it’s just what happens throughout the course of an NBA season.”
“It’s tough. I’m a competitor. I love to play, especially against teams like Philly who are a great team … So it’s definitely a tough decision for me to sit this one out. But at the end of the day I just have to look at the long haul. We’re looking to get to the playoffs and make a run, so I’ve got to look at it that way.”
“Just got to take care of myself, which I’ve been doing to the best of my ability. But I’ve got to continue to do it,” he added.
While the Celtics have proven they can beat the likes of a Philadelphia 76ers without the All-Star starter, there is a wisdom in not pushing too hard for games that ultimately won’t have too much of an impact on the postseason.
Head coach Brad Stevens noted it wasn’t viewed as especially serious, though it has been a recurrent issue worth treating with caution.
Kemba Walker will miss at least 2 games with his sore left knee and will be evaluated after that
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 (@RedsArmy_John) February 1, 2020
Walker sat against the Sixers, and will likely miss at least one more contest, Boston’s next being against the lowly Atlanta Hawks, currently tied for the league’s second-worst record and holding last place in the East.
“I don’t know what they’ve officially labeled it as but it’s been ongoing all year,” said Stevens.
“And he missed, I think, a game earlier this month for it. But it flared up. You could tell he didn’t have his normal burst the other day. I don’t think it’s anything that we think is a long, long term thing by any means, but we certainly may have to manage it.”
Given the expectations of a deep playoff run for Boston and the extra mileage the 29-year-old put on those knees this summer, rest is absolutely crucial — maybe even when body parts aren’t hurting, if the rest of the team is up to the opponent in his absence.
It’s always a delicate balance between providing fans with the full experience they paid for and balancing bigger-picture goals for the franchise.
Perhaps more nights where the Connecticut product simply moves the rock a bit in the background can be a compromise should the need arise in the future.
One thing, though, is certain — however far this team gets in the postseason, it’ll get farther with a healthy Walker.
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