Celtics star point guard Kemba Walker has been cleared to practice, the team’s PR department tweets.
Walker has been dealing with left knee soreness since the middle of last season, his first with Boston after signing a four-year max contract.
The team announced at the beginning of December as training camps were opening that Walker would not play until at least early January. After consulting several medical specialists in early October, the veteran guard received a stem cell injection in the knee and was put on a 12-week strengthening program.
According to coach Brad Stevens, Walker’s knee has been pain-free for over a month, he told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and other media members on Friday. However, his return is not imminent.
“Credit to Kemba for saying, ‘I’ve got to get this thing stronger, and I’ve got to make sure that it is ready to go through a season and then, if we’re fortunate, a postseason,'” Stevens said. “But he and (strength coach Jace Delaney) have done a nice job putting together a plan of attack, along with Phil Coles and then hopefully he’ll be back soon. But we’re not going to rush that. We’ll see how the practice goes and all that other stuff.”
The Celtics have replaced Walker at point guard with a combination of Jeff Teague, Marcus Smart and surprising rookie Payton Pritchard. Teague was available to play on Friday after missing two games with an ankle injury.
If he is at full strength when he comes back the Celtics are going to be a tough out.
Tatum and Brown are beasting.
Yes it’s interesting how sometimes an injury will create opportunities for other guys to step up and fill the void. Tatum’s been doing that and brown is really getting it going. They’re looking good and seem to have all the pieces. Going to be interesting to watch this season play out.
They need Kemba for a title run. Boston healthy can come out the east. But they need everyone.
Plus Danny had a trade exemption for .,…
The logjam at PG will be something I hope Stevens can figure out without dismantling the chemistry within the team. PP and Teague have played very well in Kemba’s absence, it’s smart I’m worried about. He’s really struggling out of the gate this year
Peter Principle often works out!
Hope with Kenna coming back they still find minutes for Pritchard. Kids been a spark plug and really enjoyable to watch
bruh 5 point guards plus javonte green. and at da 2 u got smart and an injured romeo langford for an unknown amount of time. they’re probably going to play green at da 2 and/or maybe pritchard at da 2 if he adapts to da position. and ofc that means semi will get more mins. better get some hope that ur Cs can get something from nesmith.
Dude exactly. I even forgot about their draft pick Nesmith. They seriously have a lot of guards.