After playing his first game in three weeks Saturday night, Kemba Walker tiptoed a fine line, making it clear he was unhappy with his current role but insisting he would do whatever the Knicks asked him to do.
For at least one more game, that appears to mean playing again. Beyond that remains very much muddled.
With the same six Knicks remaining in COVID-19 protocol as of Monday and Derrick Rose a game-time decision because of an ankle injury, Walker figures to see more playing time Tuesday against the Pistons at the Garden, if not a second straight start.
In his first game back after a nine-game benching from coach Tom Thibodeau, Walker scored a season-high 29 points in Saturday’s 114-107 loss to the Celtics. Afterward, he said he “hate[d]” being benched and “I know I should be playing.”
“Well, that’s who he is. I have an appreciation for that,” Thibodeau said Monday after practice. “With all players, there’s gonna be frustrations. I have great respect for Kemba.”
Walker also said he hadn’t spoken to Thibodeau since the coach delivered the news that he was out of the starting lineup and rotation altogether last month. Thibodeau did not clarify whether he and Walker have not spoken at all or just about the veteran point guard’s role.
“I talk to the team every day and then I talk to every player appropriately,” Thibodeau said. “That’s what a head coach’s job is. But I have an appreciation for frustration. He’s an accomplished player. I have to do what I think is best for the team. And that’s how I’m gonna make my decisions.”
Whether or not Walker has a chance to change Thibodeau’s view on whether he can be part of what’s best for the team remains unclear.
“I look at how the team plays,” Thibodeau said. “There were some good things, obviously some things we have to do a lot better. At the end of the day, we lost the game. We have to win. It’s not about individuals. It’s about the team.”
The Knicks were 2-7 in the nine games Walker was benched, with Alec Burks and Rose stepping in as the starting point guard.
They were even more shorthanded Saturday, but despite Walker pouring in 17 points in the third quarter alone to give the Knicks a lead after trailing by 15 at halftime, they still ultimately fell short.
“[Walker] brings a lot of juice to us with his shot-making ability, passion for the game,” Julius Randle said. “I love competing with him out there. So he was great for us. A true professional, being out as many games as he was and coming in and being prepared and being ready.”
It’s a role that Walker, the Bronx native who signed a two-year, $18 million contract with the Knicks last summer, may have to fill for the time being, at least as long as the Knicks’ roster remains unsettled.
As for what the rotation might look like once Rose and the Knicks’ COVID contingent come back? Thibodeau was not ready to go there yet.
“My mentality is like, just worry about today and then tomorrow we worry about tomorrow,” he said. “And I think that’s the only way you can reach this. We have no idea. You come in every day and the first thing you do is you want to check who’s available. And then you go from there. So, I think just taking it day by day is the best way to approach it.”
