UPDATE: While acknowledging it’s still early, the preliminary reports out of Denver regarding Kemba Walker’s injury on Friday night are relatively positive. The team announced that Walker had concussion-like symptoms and was being transported to a hospital for evaluation, and according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Walker looks like he avoided a serious injury.
#NEBHInjuryReport Kemba Walker has been diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms. He is being transported to the hospital for further evaluation. Further updates will be provided as appropriate.
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 23, 2019
Early indications are that Boston’s Kemba Walker did not suffer a significant injury in collision tonight, league source tells ESPN. Team has diagnosed him with concussion-like symptoms. https://t.co/Qu2LMTDwaW
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 23, 2019
This is all very, very early, and Walker is not out of the woods yet. But all things considered, this is a positive update.
EARLIER: Kemba Walker has been everything the Boston Celtics could have hoped for since he joined the team as a free agent this past offseason. Walker has assimilated to life with a new franchise seamlessly, and as a result, the Celtics have shot up to the top of the Eastern Conference at this early point in the season.
But on Friday night, Walker suffered an injury that cast a stunned silence on the fans attending Boston’s game in Denver. Walker tried to grab a loose ball during the second quarter of action and stumbled. His head was down, and his momentum took him forward, at which point the top of his head collided with the torso of one of his teammates, Semi Ojeleye.
Here is a video of the incident — a warning that watching Walker collide with Ojeleye and go down is hard to endure.
A look at Kemba’s neck injury pic.twitter.com/v2n3n9S7z1
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) November 23, 2019
Walker laid on the ground and did not move for a few minutes, and eventually, he was put on a stretcher and taken off the court. We will be sure to keep you updated as more information comes in regarding the injury, but for now, all of our hearts go out to Walker, and here’s to hoping that this isn’t as bad as it looked in its immediate aftermath.
