Since coming to the NBA in the first round of the 2011 Draft, many New Yorkers had dreamed of having Kemba Walker on their team. However, it was not until ten years later that that wish came true.
The natural point guard from The Bronx has signed for the next two seasons with the New York Knicks after parting ways with the Thunder, which he reached via transfer from the Boston Celtics. It is a new situation for Walker, although he admits that everything is very familiar to him. The city, the team, the training ground, his teammates, etc. In fact, the Knicks’ pavilion is barely 5 miles away from his high school.
“I’m finally here,” Kemba Walker told the newspaper NY Post.
The Knicks have three players from the city on the roster: Taj Gibson (Brooklyn), the young Obi Toppin (Brooklyn) and the aforementioned Walker (The Bronx). “It’s like we already have a connection between us. We get along very well, “he acknowledged.
Gibson, 36, has continually urged him to play for the Knicks. In fact, it was common for him to insist on “come home” during the warm-up rounds.
And finally Walker will play for Tom Thibodeau’s team who will ask him for an extra defense and a strong commitment from day one. But it will not be news to him, since in Charlotte he met Steve Clifford, a pupil of Thibs and also very demanding with the work on the back of the track.
You just have to make an effort. Intensity, ”Walker admitted. Always doing the extra. Never give up and help each other. That is the really important thing in the defensive part, especially in this league ”, explained.
(Cover photo: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
