NBA

Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau: Kemba Walker still ‘away from the team’

Where’s Kemba Walker? Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has no idea.

Walker shut it down for the season at the All-Star break to get his arthritic left knee healthier for next season.

Walker is on a two-year, $18 million contract with the Knicks, but Thibodeau’s cluelessness regarding his whereabouts is the clearest indicator the Bronx point guard legend isn’t in their plans.

Asked if Walker has been at the Tarrytown facility, Thibodeau said, “No, he’s away from the team. That’s the way it is. He’s rehabbing, taking care of what he has to take care of.’’

Thibodeau said Walker is not working with team trainers.

“No, he’s away from the team,’’ Thibodeau said. “And that was agreed upon. Our management, his agent and Kemba, we just felt that was the best way to handle it.’’

According to an NBA source, Walker has been training in Charlotte, N.C., his former home, and New York, shuttling back and forth. Walker’s mother still lives in the “Queen City,’’ and the Hornets could be a future destination as he played there eight seasons. The Knicks visit Charlotte on Wednesday.

Kemba Walker
Kemba Walker AP

The likeliest scenario is the Knicks trading Walker’s expiring contract in a deal on draft night in late June. No buyout talks have taken place.

Walker, 31, can still help a team as a bench player, as he averaged 11.3 points in 37 games and shot 36.7 percent from 3.


Rookie SG Quentin Grimes is expected to return vs. the Wizards on Friday after missing nine straight games with a dislocated knee.

Grimes said he feels “100 percent,’’ and Thibodeau added he’s “champing at the bit.’’

His two-way play has impressed Thibodeau since he advanced into the rotation in December.

“He’s been out for a while but everything he does is all out,’’ Thibodeau said. “The way plays in a game is how he practices. He benefits greatly from that.’’


Derrick Rose (ankle) still hasn’t been cleared to practice leaving his chances of returning by season’s end up in the air.


Former Knicks lottery pick Kristaps Porzingis will play his first game at the Garden this season on Friday, and first as a Wizard.

Porzingis missed the Dallas-Knicks game on Jan. 11 because he had COVID-19. The Mavericks traded Porzingis, the Knicks fourth-overall pick in the 2015 draft, in February in the Spencer Dinwiddie package partly due to durability issues. He’s averaging 19.5 points but shooting just 28 percent from 3.