Antoine Walker Working On A Comeback

Jessica Camerato of WEEI caught up with Toine’s uncle at Fenway Park: “Chico Walker saw a different side of his nephew this Fourth of July weekend. It wasn’t a three-time All-Star shimmying on the court. It wasn’t the centerpiece of several legal troubles, either. Instead he saw Antoine Walker, a humbled athlete fighting to overcome his lapses in judgment and restart his NBA career at age 34… Now as Antoine attempts a comeback in the NBA, he turned to someone he has trusted over the years. Antoine has spent his summer working out at the University of Louisville with Rick Pitino, his coach at the University of Kentucky and on the Celtics, and the Cardinals basketball team. Chico estimates Antoine has dropped between 18 and 25 pounds as he continues to improve his conditioning under Pitino‘s watch. “Four to six” teams, he said, have already expressed interest in the forward, who is fighting to land an NBA roster spot for the first time since 2008 when he received a buyout from the Grizzlies. Antoine Walker is also fighting to shed a negative image, one that led to being released from his most recent team, the Mets de Guaynabo in Puerto Rico… ‘He’s definitely looking to go into training camp, but he knows it’s not going to be a guaranteed contract,’ said Chico. ‘He’s going to have to go in and make a team, and he understands that. That’s where he is in terms of his conditioning. He knows he has to go in there and earn a spot. Nothing’s going to be given to him regardless of what he’s done in the past. I think the main concern is that this other stuff is going to follow him around. Is that going to be a deterring factor for a lot of teams? Hopefully not because basketball-wise, I still think he has a little bit to give to the game. But he has to go in and he has to show that. Nothing’s going to be given to him at this point.'”