Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau isn’t sure whether Kemba Walker will be around the team moving forward, stating that those conversations were between Walker and management, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv (via Twitter). Walker did not attend Wednesday’s practice.
It was announced Wednesday that Walker won’t play for the remainder of the season and will work out in preparation for 2022/23. He’ll be on an expiring $9.2MM contract this summer, which might make it easier to trade him.
“We knew there was risk involved (in signing Walker with his balky knee),” Thibodeau said, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “We thought it was worth it. There were some good moments. If he’s healthy, he’s good. So, that’s about it.”
Here are a few more notes on the Knicks:
- Derrick Rose and RJ Barrett were full participants at practice Wednesday and will be evaluated Thursday, Thibodeau said (Twitter link via Begley). It was Rose’s first day taking contact.
- Although Rose’s return to action appears imminent, Thibodeau indicated he’d likely start Alec Burks at point guard, Bondy relays. “Digging into the numbers and stuff, Alec has been our best option so far,” Thibodeau said.
- Barrett had no qualms about being on the court at the end of a blowout loss when he sprained his ankle earlier this month, Begley reports (via Twitter). Barrett said he always wants to be on the court and an injury like the one he suffered can occur at any stage of a game. “To sprain my ankle like that, it could happen in the first 10 seconds of the game,” Barrett said.
Thibs is toast, no front office is giving a first rounder for a player and watching the coach refuse to play him, is reddish perfect of course not but he’s better in offense than basically anyone else on the team and the Knicks break 90 like once a month, Knicks need a new direction, their roster isn’t terrible, they need zion badly though, reunite Randle and ingram
Silly Thibs, thinking he will just start his best option, Alec Burks. Burks has been the best option on nearly every team every year he’s healthy. But nobody will care or applaud him or respect Burks.
Give him a break . Let’s see how the rest of the season goes
Thibs has to play Reddish significant minutes the rest of the season. Stop talking about these 30 year olds because everyone knows what they are. Play the young guys to see what you have or maybe what other teams might want to gamble on in the off season.
So start the guy who will tease instead of the best option? Maybe Reddish should deserve it first.
Or this year’s tank could be declared, heaven forbid.
Knicks are a joke.
They (re)signed mediocre mostly old players wasting all their free cap hallucinating that year was something more than a covid miracle.
Meanwhile they are in year 2 if their rebuild, despite the fact they are missing the playoffs for 10 years (excluding their miracle year)
Don’t disagree with you here but you can’t exclude what they did last year and pass it off as a miracle. They were the 4 seed. Give credit where credit is due
I’ll give them that, but it was clear that was not maintainable. and they prove it this year.
however saying they are in year 2 of a rebuild, while missing the playoffs 9/10 years and having picked 5 lottery picks is funny
the truth is they are in a permanent rebuild.
“Thibodeau indicated he’d likely start Alec Burks at point guard, Bondy relays. “Digging into the numbers and stuff, Alec has been our best option so far,” Thibodeau said.”
I wonder where Thibs is getting his numbers because Burks is not good at PG and you have McBride, IQ, and now DRose. Thibs should probably just be fired now if he’s going to publicly state his intention to keep starting Burks at PG. If nothing else, Knicks should be seeing what they have with McBride and IQ.
My gut says Thibs’ numbers are his eyes. But even if he did have a number that said Burks was their best option that’s still no excuse not to give McBride and IQ serious run at this point IMO. They’re not playing for anything besides a high lottery pick at this point
At this point I agree – I think Thibs is a net negative. Time to move on
Yeah, I’m not even a big ‘Fire Thibs’ guy but if he’s not even going to play guys like Reddish, Obi, McBride, IQ, etc, then he’s not the right coach for the team. Last season was fun but the goals have shifted and if he’s not on board, they should part ways.
100% im not even a Knicks fan and, the moment this season started to go south + the Reddish trade, Thibs should have been gone.
We’ll, if this the big changes that we’re alluded to I’m done watching for this year. The big push towards sustained mediocrity is a waste of time. Alec Burks is the starting point guard? Really? He’s a decent player but he’s not the answer to the team becoming truly competitive and interesting to watch. Neither is Fournier for that matter. Start McBride for the rest of the year and see what you have. Get Randle and Barrett’s minutes to reasonable levels and get Grimes, Obi and Reddish all over 20 minutes a game at the expense of Fournier and Burks. Play Randle and Obi at the same time and see what we can make out of that. Taj is a good guy but he should be out of the rotation also. If our young guys can’t step up then we’ll never be able to be a threat in the conference anyway so we might as well push them to find out what they’ve got. At least it would interesting to watch if nothing else.
What a mess. Another rebuild coming up, should have never given Randle all that money. He is a 3 on a team with two stars. Noel has done nothing, Walker is watching and then will be moved. Obby stinks can softly dunk that’s about it
The Knicks are a grease fire.
Kemba should buy himself out of his contract and hit FA this offseason instead of getting traded to some random team.
Then chose where to go maybe Bucks, Clippers or Lakers.
He would need to leave a lot of money on the table and might only get a minimum salary signing elsewhere. Dont think a buy-out where he gives up again more than 5 million is very realistic, though you never know…
Very unrealistic.
However in his career to date he has an estimated earnings of about 150mil.
I’m not his position but I’d buy myself out of that deal. Tell the Knicks I’ll give you 5mil if you let me go. Then take the minimum be happy on a contender and playing a role on a winning team.
He would be great for the clippers. Gets to live in LA and play with Kawhi and PG. Have a chance at winning a ring. Great roster, good head coach, good amount of vets he can be happy with a young guys that he can help develop and have fun with.
I’d say rather be on the clippers than with the Knicks if I’m him
I think he would need to basically erase his salary for next year for the Knicks to consider it. As it stands now, his $9 million expiring deal for next season does have a little trade value.
Yeah I’d tell the Knicks you don’t want me, well I don’t want to be here either. I’d rather buy myself out and choose where I go than you trade me. If I really have to I’ll buy myself out completely but please work with me and my agent otherwise it will affect your future deals
Kemba already bought himself out of the Thunder. He gave up 20M to play for the Knicks for 18M.
He’s a minimum vet now nobody will giving him mid level money again