Kemba Walker had left knee drained, injected after All-Star game

Kemba Walker had his left knee drained and received an injection to relieve swelling and soreness in the past few days, according to head coach Brad Stevens. 

Walker is with the team in Minnesota but will not play on the first game of a larger west-coast trip. The All-Star played above his minutes limit in the All-Star game on Sunday, including 15 straight in the fourth quarter. He also played a season-high 45 minutes in a double OT win last Thursday against the Clippers in the first game where his minutes limit was lifted since returning from knee soreness.

According to BSJ sports medicine expert Dr. Jessica Flynn, it’s likely that Walker is dealing with some kind of knee arthritis that will need to be managed for the rest of the season with injections and rest. Stevens said Walker received Synvisc in his knee to help relieve the pain after having it drained.

Despite the poor optics of Walker playing in an All-Star game and being forced to miss time over a lengthy break, Stevens emphasized to reporters in Minnesota that Walker and the medical staff did not believe playing in the All-Star Game would add to the recurring soreness issue.

“I do think it’s important, like, there’s no way he would have played or our medical staff would have (let him play in the All-Star game) if they thought this was going to be possible after the break,” Stevens told reporters. “It’s just unfortunate. It probably would have happened at some point, clearly, but it’s unfortunate that it happened there. But this guy’s as good as it gets. I feel bad for him.”

Stevens was not certain about Walker’s availability beyond Friday’s game in Minnesota but did not believe his absence would last much into next week.

“I think it’s short-term enough that that will be in the discussion,” Stevens said of Walker potentially playing Friday. "Then we also have to just decide, kind of like we did in the period before the All-Star break, does he benefit from strengthening for a week without games? Does he benefit from strengthening for two weeks without games? I don’t know what the answer to that is. That’s where he and our medical staff have to put their heads together to come up with a plan. And then we’ll follow it.”

The Wolves also will be without star center Karl-Anthony Towns for Friday’s game. Walker is not the only player who suited up in the All-Star game to miss his first game after the break either. Ben Simmons (sore back) missed the Sixers’ win over the Nets on Thursday night.

BSJ Analysis: We covered the possibilities on Thursday wondering whether this is load management (not a big deal) versus a more concerning injury flaring up, and this injection indicates the latter. While there were clearly no bad intentions here from the parties involved (Walker, training staff, Nick Nurse) by risking Walker playing in the All-Star game, it's not a great look for everyone now that Walker could miss extended time.

At this point, one has to wonder whether the C's will be better off shutting Walker down for an extended period to try to solve the issue if the knee doesn't show improvement. He has struggled in his last five games (35 percent shooting) since returning from injury. We will have a longer Q-and-A with Dr. Flynn next week on the subject, but for now, Walker's knee condition is rising up the list for the biggest concern this team has heading into the stretch run.