Boston Celtics starting point guard Kemba Walker is continuing to have soreness in his knee, and will move more slowly to ramp up his conditioning, according to Celtics head coach Brad Stevens in Monday’s Disney ‘bubble’ media availability.
The UConn product — entering his ninth season in the league — experienced considerable irritation in the latter half of the season before the shutdown, especially after the All-Star break, where Walker’s knee severely impinged on his ability to perform at his best.
“He had a little bit of discomfort after some of the individual workouts He certainly feels better than he did in March,” related Stevens.
“But with the small discomfort, we said let’s take four days and ramp it up from there.”
“He had a little bit of discomfort after a couple of the individual workouts,” explained the coach. “But with just even the small discomfort, we said let’s take four days and ramp it up appropriately. The number one thing is strength — and strength around the knee.”
“[It’s] hard to do that with the four days we just had,” Stevens added.
Walker has been dealing with chronic knee soreness going back well into his tenure with the Charlotte Hornets, and Boston will move forwards with an abundance of caution increasing the workload on that knee.
The Bronx native is one of the most important components of the team’s title hopes in the Disney restart, so protecting his availability for a deep postseason run is a major priority.
