Kemba Walker – New York Knicks
New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau made a big roster decision on Monday as he told reporters that he was removing former NBA All-Star point guard Kemba Walker from not only the starting lineup, but from the team’s entire rotation as a whole.
Kemba Walker signed a two-year, roughly $18M deal with New York in the offseason to be their starting point guard, but things have not worked out early on in the year for the Knicks. They find themselves 11-11 and really struggling to get back to where they were defensively a year ago.
Plus, Walker’s production really has been nonexistent at times, as he has scored in double-figures just three times in his last eleven games. “It’s a tough decision to make, but you always have to do what you think is best for the team,” Thibodeau told reporters on Monday.
“I view Kemba Walker as a starter, and so it’d be tough to play three small guards together. I gave it consideration, and I’ve got great respect for who Kemba is as a person and all he’s accomplished in this league. But I have to do what I think is best for the team.”
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Now 11-year veteran Alec Burks is in the starting-unit for the Knicks and will start in-place of Kemba Walker moving forward. Burks has outplayed Walker off-the-bench, averaging 16.7 points per game and shooting 44.6% from the floor over his last seven games, so it makes sense for the Knicks to want to try something new.
Kemba Walker is averaging career-lows in points (11.7), rebounds (2.6), assists (3.1), field goals attempted per game (9.8) and has only played close to 25 minutes per game this season. While he is shooting 42.9% from the floor and 41.3% from three-point range, Walker just does not look like his old All-Star self in New York, hence why Derrick Rose, Immanuel Quickley and Alec Burks have bumped him down in the rotation.
Nobody knows if the Knicks plan on keeping Kemba or if they will look to trade him, but it would definitely be in their best interest to trade him ahead of the trade deadline in February. Derrick Rose has been a consistent scoring threat for them dating back to last year and with Immanuel Quickley playing well, they really do not have a need for Kemba Walker.
Having a small contract, the former All-Star would definitely draw a decent amount of interest on the trade market and one team who could show a lot of interest in him is the Dallas Mavericks. Luka Doncic is this team’s only primary ball-handler and overall, Dallas just needs more talent on their roster.
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Adding Kemba Walker to their frontcourt not only takes pressure off Doncic to do everything, but Walker is shooting 41.3% from deep on the year and can be a steady off-ball scorer like Tim Hardaway Jr.
The Knicks and Mavericks have never been afraid to make deals before and this could be yet another deal the two sides could agree on.
Prediction: Gets Traded to the Mavericks
