Expectations are high for the New York Knicks entering this season after they raced to the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference last year. New York added valuable pieces like Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier in the offseason, both of whom played for the Boston Celtics last year.

As fate would have it, the Knicks play the Celtics in their regular season opener on Wednesday night. Walker, per Ian Begley of SNY, was asked if it matters that the opener is against his former team.

“Does it matter? Of course. It’s my old team. Yeah, it matters. I don’t go into any game thinking I wanna lose, you know? I definitely wanna win. Does it make it that much better that it’s my old team? Yeah, no question.”

It's great to see Walker lean into this one as the Knicks look to make another run to the postseason this year.

Walker, a native of the Bronx, is pumped to not only face his former team right out of the gates, but also play with the Knicks uniform on in Madison Square Garden.

“…I'm from here and I'm in a Knicks uniform. That's definitely just going to make it ten times more special. So yeah, I'm excited for that. This has definitely just been a dream come true for me to be able to play for this organization. It's gonna be a special, special moment in my career.”

Walker appears to be as motivated as ever and the Knicks will count on that to translate over to the floor when their season tips off on Wednesday night.