This is probably the only good news of the night for Dallas, who took a nice rouste against the Bulls. In the absence of Luka Doncic, Kemba Walker had the pleasure of treading the floor again.
Twenty minutes of happiness that he savored at fair value, for an encouraging record of 8 points (2/5 in shooting) 5 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 against. After the game, the veteran point guard shared his joy at being able to return to the field after 297 days without participating in an NBA game.
“I feel good, I was home a few weeks ago. I feel really good, it’s really rewarding to be back”he said, adding that this first in his new Dallas colors had come with a little stress. “Once I saw my first shot go in, the nervousness went away (…). It’s really a great feeling. I worked hard to get back to this level”.
An association with Luka Doncic possible
Jason Kidd also appreciated the performance of Facundo Campazzo’s replacement. His coach’s eye noticed that Kemba Walker was one of the only ones to end this “blowout” with a positive +/- (evolution of the score when a player is on the field). Far from being a small feat!
“I think Kemba did a good job of organizing us offensively and defensively”, he pointed out. “On closer inspection, there were only two guys who were positive, and he was one of them, along with Reggie Bullock. In a match like that, it’s almost impossible to do, but those two were positive, so Kemba did a really good job.”
The coach slipped that he could associate Kemba Walker with Luka Doncic on the back posts, as the Slovenian is currently doing with Spencer Dinwiddie, and as Kemba Walker was able to do with Marcus Smart in Boston.
“We will have the opportunity to see these two play together, it’s early in the season so we have a lot of games to play. When Luka comes back, I hope we can get these two to play together on the court.”he added, therefore trying to retain the positive of this knockdown received in Illinois.
| Kemba Walker | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2011-12 | CHA | 66 | 27 | 36.6 | 30.5 | 78.9 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 12.1 |
| 2012-13 | CHA | 82 | 35 | 42.3 | 32.2 | 79.8 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 5.7 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 17.7 |
| 2013-14 | CHA | 73 | 36 | 39.3 | 33.3 | 83.7 | 0.5 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 6.1 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 0.4 | 17.7 |
| 2014-15 | CHA | 62 | 34 | 38.5 | 30.4 | 82.7 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 5.1 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 17.3 |
| 2015-16 | CHA | 81 | 36 | 42.7 | 37.1 | 84.7 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 5.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 20.9 |
| 2016-17 | CHA | 79 | 35 | 44.3 | 39.9 | 84.7 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 5.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 23.2 |
| 2017-18 | CHA | 80 | 34 | 43.1 | 38.4 | 86.4 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 5.6 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 22.1 |
| 2018-19 | CHA | 82 | 35 | 43.4 | 35.6 | 84.4 | 0.6 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 5.9 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 2.6 | 0.4 | 25.6 |
| 2019-20 | BOS | 56 | 31 | 42.5 | 38.1 | 86.4 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 20.5 |
| 2020-21 | BOS | 43 | 32 | 42.0 | 36.0 | 89.9 | 0.4 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 19.3 |
| 2021-22 | NYK | 37 | 26 | 40.3 | 36.7 | 84.5 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 11.7 |
| Total | 741 | 33 | 41.8 | 36.0 | 84.0 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 5.3 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 19.5 | |
