Kemba Walker

New York’s offseason signing of Kemba Walker has not worked out the way they initially imagined and after shutting him down for about a month from November to December, the Knicks and Walker have agreed to shut the former All-Star down for the remainder of the season. 

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowksi, the Knicks and Kemba Walker have agreed that the four-time All-Star will be sidelined for the remainder of the team’s schedule, allowing him to prepare for the 2022-23 season.

Immediately following Wojnarowski’s report, the Knicks and team president Leon Rose released a statement saying that the team supports Walker’s decision to shut things down for the remainder of the year and that his long-term success on the floor remains the Knicks “priority.” 

If any player is going to be traded from the Knicks this upcoming offseason, it will be Kemba Walker, as the team really has no reason to keep him around. Both Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes have jumped Walker in the team’s depth chart and there is no reason to pay the former All-Star $9.1 million next season to just sit around and watch games from the bench. 

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What team would be willing to take on Kemba Walker’s contract is a key question that would have to be answered at some point, but New York really has no reason to want to keep him at this point. 

They took a chance with Kemba Walker this past offseason and the experiment did not work out as they had imagined, which is why the Knicks will likely look to trade the veteran point guard in the offseason.