New York Knicks: 5 players who are trending up/down heading into 2022

New York Knicks Trending UP: Kemba Walker

The Eastern Conference Player of the week.

These are just storylines you can never predict before the season begins.

If you wanted to tell me that Kemba Walker was going to have some ups and downs early on in his Knicks career, that would have made sense.

Going from being completely wiped out of the rotation and being a negative storyline to becoming the best player in the Eastern Conference for a week are just not the extremes I was expecting.

Now, Kemba Walker has become an irreplaceable leader on this team.

Asking Kemba to continue averaging 25-8-9 is probably unreasonable, but right now this team needs him to perform at a high level.

New York is going to be without Derrick Rose for a while.

Right now, Walker can break down defenders and get buckets better than anyone else on the roster. It feels like whenever he has the ball in his hands, he’s either getting his own buckets or generating offense for a teammate.

The handling of his benching has been nothing short of magnificent, and that positive energy is visible on and off the court with his teammates.

It’s not just that play on the court. Walker’s positive energy has been a welcome sign for a team that has had some disappointing body language over the last few weeks.

As it stands right now, there is simply no way Kemba Walker has his role dialed back, and he shouldn’t. Walker’s continued strong play on the court is going to be a major key to the New York Knicks success in the next few weeks.