Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Tuesday that while star point guard Kemba Walker's left knee is improving, he is likely to sit out Friday's opening scrimmage inside the NBA's bubble at Walt Disney World Resort against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"Kemba did the first hour of practice," Stevens said Tuesday afternoon. "[He] did not do anything live ... [he] will be reevaluated tomorrow, with the likelihood of going live on Thursday morning [in practice]. Then, I don't think he will play against Oklahoma City, even though he will practice the day before.
"But he's pretty darn close right now."
Walker initially was supposed to practice every other day, but Stevens said he's been able to do at least something each of the past five days.
"He's been going every day to some level in the last five days. Initially, we thought it would be more every other day. He's felt great, he's been able to add strength and those were the two things we needed to prioritize."
Walker has dealt with issues from the knee injury going back to before the season shut down, including a particularly brutal stretch of play after the All-Star Game -- during which he played heavy minutes in Chicago thanks to the new "Elam Ending" to the midseason classic -- that saw him shoot 18-for-59 (30.7 percent) from the floor and just 9-for-36 (25%) from 3-point range in the final four games before the season came to a halt.
He initially said he felt good upon returning to individual workouts with his teammates in Boston in late June, but later felt "discomfort" in the knee, which he said last week included pain. But he also insisted he would be all right by the time the playoffs come around.
"It's definitely pretty frustrating, just because I'm not a guy who misses many games, especially throughout the course of my career," Walker said last week. "I'm not really concerned much, honestly, because I'm trending upwards and I'm getting better and I'm getting closer to a return.
"So, yeah, I'm fine. And I'll be back better than ever, I think."
The only other injury Boston has had during the restart is a concussion suffered by rookie guard Tremont Waters late last week. Stevens said Monday that Waters remains in concussion protocol.