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Celtics guard Kemba Walker was the starting point guard in last week’s All-Star game and comported himself well. Walker scored 23 points on 9-for-18 shooting and 5-for-11 shooting from the 3-point line, logging 29 minutes according to the NBA box score.
But in a season in which Walker has had some injury issues, putting in that kind of time in an exhibition event—he could have taken it easy over that weekend—has become a source of controversy. Walker experienced swelling after the game last Sunday and sat out Boston’s win over Minnesota on Friday night
“I do think it’s important (to state): there’s no way he would have played or our medical staff would have played (him) if they thought that this was going to be possible after the break,” Stevens said, according to Celtics.com.
Stevens did downplay the long-term severity of the injury and originally did not rule out Walker for a possible return in the Celtics’ showdown with the Lakers in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, a rematch of the January 20 game at TD Garden which the Celtics won by 32 points, led in part by 20 points and seven assists from Walker.
But the Celtics later announced that Walker would, in fact, miss the Lakers game.
The Celtics are in the midst of a difficult road trip in which they play four games in six days.
Is the Clippers Game to Blame?
While Walker is not expected to have a serious knee problem, it could remain an issue to watch during the Celtics’ stretch run. Walker missed three games with the knee injury to start February and played relatively modest minutes for three games when he came back.
He did play 45 minutes in an overtime win against the Clippers just before the All-Star break and there has been speculation that it was that game that set up Walker’s knee for a problem.
“So, what they (the medical staff) said was that, they said he could have one big one,” Stevens said about the Clippers game. “Obviously that was as big one. There’s no question about it. Then he felt good enough after that, and we were fortunate with that.”
Walker is averaging 21.8 points and 5.0 assists this season, his first in Boston after signing a four-year, $141 million contract last summer as a free agent. He has missed nine games but the Celtics have held up well without him, going 7-2.
Brad Stevens Breaks Down Walker’s Injury
Stevens explained that Walker returned from the All-Star break with swelling in the knee. So the Celtics investigated.
“Obviously he didn’t [practice] Wednesday, and then we decided to – what is it? – drain the swelling,” Stevens said. “And then he got an injection of Synvisc, which is a pretty common thing when guys are dealing with swelling and knee soreness.”
When the Celtics performed a scan, the indication was that Walker’s knee was in good shape.
“The difference between how his knee presented on Wednesday (and) how it presented throughout his period of soreness that we had sat him with, was he just had a lot more swelling,” Stevens said. “Obviously, that was an indicator that we needed to check it. He had another scan. Knee looks good structurally.”
There’s hope that Walker will be on the floor for the Lakers game. But the knee issue will linger.
“He’s going to be managing it and dealing with it, as he has all year,” Stevens said.
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