LOS ANGELES — Kemba Walker is coming to grips with a new stage in his basketball life. For the first time, he is a role player and still learning how to adapt.
“It’s pretty difficult. It’s just so different. … It’s a different time in my career.” Walker said Friday following a Knicks practice in Los Angeles. “I’m in a whole different position and role. But yeah, that’s on me to learn how to play with guys and learn when to get my shots, and it’s just taking more time than what I’d like to expect.”
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The latest point in Walker’s learning process also is his lowest. He hasn’t scored in two consecutive games. His last bucket, a dinky third-quarter layup against the Bucks, came nine quarters ago.
He’s gone eight days without a point.
“It definitely hasn’t happened before: two times. … I just got to find a way to contribute,” Walker said. “It’s a different time in my career.”
Such is the theme of what Walker is going through right now. During a five-minute availability with reporters Friday in L.A., he used the word “different” nine times.
He mentioned different times in his career, different roles, different positions. And right now, Walker is nowhere near his normal. He is no longer the star and has to find a way to fit in.
“I’m waiting for my opportunities. And I’m still learning where to be aggressive and things of that nature on this team,” he said. “I can’t say it enough. … It’s just different for me.”
He’s not wrong.
It’s not just the lack of scoring that stands out with Walker, whose zero-point performances are part of a greater downward trend. He is averaging only 6.7 points and 2.4 assists on 35 percent overall shooting and 22 percent 3-point shooting during seven games since returning in January from a knee injury.
It’s also the way the Knicks are using him.
Against the Grizzlies on Wednesday, he clanked a shot, got his rebound and then airballed an open floater. Those stand out but those are the outliers. The reality is, Walker is barely involved. He runs some pick-and-rolls, which is his usual bread and butter. He’s taken only six total shots during the two scoreless outings.
It’s quite the change for someone who was averaging 20 points per game only two years ago.
“We do have a lot of guys who can score the basketball. And we don’t play through me,” Walker said. “So I’m just kind of out there. I’m the one playing off these guys.”
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Walker, 31, is hardly the first former All-Star to live through a transition like this. He has a bad left knee, which has contributed to his downfall and is the main reason the Celtics attached a first-round pick to trade him last summer to the Thunder, which bought him out. His knee kept him on the sidelines for nine games from the end of December into mid-January.
Former All-Stars have gracefully transferred into impressive second acts after injuries decimated their athleticism. There may not be a better recent example than Grant Hill. Vince Carter and Paul Pierce have assumed lesser roles on winning teams for years.
Walker, of course, is a different type: He’s not a big wing who can use his length and smarts to get his shot off and defend hard, but a small point guard whose success was predicated on his quickness.
He is not even a month and a half removed from a magical three-game run that followed his early-season benching. Walker began the season as the starting point guard before Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau yanked him from the rotation altogether, handing him nine consecutive DNP-CDs before placing him back into the starting lineup during COVID-19, which quarantined almost half the roster.
The three-time All-Star exploded in his return: 29 points in Boston against his former team. He went for 21 three nights later against the Pistons, then a season-best 44 against Washington. He polished off the run with a triple-double against the Hawks on Christmas.
Then, it dissipated. Walker’s play fell off for two games. He had to sit out with the sore left knee, concerning considering it was the same bad knee that is responsible for his drop from star to role player. And he hasn’t been the same since.
“Kemba’s been around a long time; he’ll be fine,” Thibodeau said. “Just be aggressive, take your shots. The game tells you what to do. If you’re open, shoot. If not, move it; make a play; get in the lane; create easy offense for other people.”
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Yet, the Knicks can’t wait forever. The Feb. 10 trade deadline is approaching, and as long as Walker struggles, the point-guard role remains a significant hole.
The Knicks signed Walker to a two-year, $18 million contract because of what he could do off the dribble. After fighting through knee issues last season in Boston, he didn’t have to be an All-Star anymore, but he did have to provide some relief for Julius Randle and the rest of the Knicks’ ballhandlers. If Randle wasn’t able to make a play, Walker could ideally run something. Or maybe he could initiate possessions to get Randle or RJ Barrett momentum going at the hoop.
Instead, Walker has faded, both because the Knicks aren’t depending on him and because he hasn’t given the team a reason it should. The Knicks are 12.3 points per 100 possessions worse when Walker is in the game. He has contributed to their often destructively slow pace, too.
Part of the reason Walker detonated in mid-December was that he was running more pick-and-rolls than at any point of the season. Of course, the Knicks had no other choice, considering how many players they were missing.
“Nobody was on the court with me really,” Walker said. “I don’t want to say nobody, but guys had COVID. I was out there playing a lot. The ball was running through me. It was different. That’s not the case right now. I’m not saying that in a negative way. It just is what it is.”
But that’s what happens in a second act.
If players are out, you get your moment. Otherwise, learn how to blend in and still make the mix better.
“I just go through it myself and learn myself,” Walker said. “It can be difficult at times but at the end of the day, it’s just a new challenge for me, which is fine. I’ll find my way.”
(Photo of Walker: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)
Fred Katz is a staff writer for The Athletic NBA covering the New York Knicks. Follow Fred on Twitter @FredKatz
