It’s official: the New York Knicks and Kemba Walker are parting ways.
After months of speculation, the team announced that the former All-Star will be sidelined for the rest of the season.
Both parties have agreed that things aren’t working out and that Walker will try his luck with another team next year.
Until then, he will be using the time to rest and prepare his body for what comes next.
Throughout this season, Walker has been something of a scapegoat for the Knicks, given less minutes and less responsibility because he was seemingly not doing well.
While it is true that Walker was reaching career-lows, he wasn’t the biggest problem with the team.
Knicks record this season:
16-21 (.432) with Kemba Walker
9-13 (.409) without Kemba Walker pic.twitter.com/0cYLdoRrCb— StatMuse (@statmuse) February 23, 2022
As Statmuse points out, the Knicks were actually 16-21 with Walker and 9-13 without him.
That means the team was doing worse when Walker wasn’t playing.
So why is he leaving?
Knicks Without Walker
There is no doubt that Walker was having a rough season.
His 11.6 points and 3.5 assists a game are career-lows for the New York native.
But he was reaching career-lows on a team that was doing bad across the board.
Everyone on the Knicks roster has not been doing as well as they should this year, from Julius Randle and Tom Thibodeau all the way down.
It wasn’t just Walker performing poorly.
But since he was never really seen as a part of the core of the Knicks and wasn’t going to be a focus for the team moving into the future, they were comfortable sidelining him in hopes that eliminating him would solve the problem.
The Knicks are still towards the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a record of 25-34.
NEXT: The Knicks Have Officially Given Up On Kemba Walker
