Brad Stevens: Kemba 'won't be back any time soon' originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It'll be a while before we see Kemba Walker back on the court for the Boston Celtics.
The All-Star point guard was ruled out until at least January after receiving a stem cell injection in his left knee. With January only a few days away, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens still isn't sure when Walker will return.
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“I think we’ll have more of a big picture update here in the next week sometime, as we thought, right around the turn of the new year," Stevens said. "He won’t be back any time soon, certainly, you know we’re hopeful to get him back as soon as possible but we want to make sure when we do it’s for good. So I think that that’s the most critical thing from our standpoint.
"You can see how we miss him and you know, it’s funny when we go back and put together clips of things that maybe we haven’t covered or things that we’d like to do differently, he’s in all of them. So we’ve got to figure out a way to be the best version of ourselves until he gets back and I think that starts with being a little better defensively and getting as good of shots as we can.”
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The Celtics could really use Walker right about now as they've started the campaign 1-2, and they'd be 0-3 if not for Jayson Tatum's miraculous game-winner in the season opener. Even when Walker does return, he'll likely be on a minutes restriction.
Boston has started Marcus Smart in Walker's place in its first three games. The Celtics will look to get back on track Tuesday night with another matchup vs. the Indiana Pacers.
