Lonnie Walker IV, Nets Agree to Contract in 2023 NBA Free Agency After Lakers Stint
Lonnie Walker IV seemed to turn his time with the Los Angeles Lakers around with a strong playoff showing, but he will look to build on that momentum elsewhere.
The Brooklyn Nets and the swingman reportedly agreed to a one-year deal on Sunday, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Walker signed a one-year deal with the Lakers ahead of last season after he spent his first four years with the San Antonio Spurs.
San Antonio selected him with a first-round pick in 2018, and he gradually established himself as a better secondary scorer with more experience. He averaged 2.6 points per game as a rookie, but that tally improved to 6.4 in his second season, 11.2 in his third season and 12.1 in his fourth season.
The Miami product was also a solid but unspectacular three-point shooter for the Spurs with a 34.3 percent clip across four seasons.
Despite the improvement, Walker never became a foundational piece the team was surely hoping for when it selected him with a first-round pick during something of a transitional period for the Spurs as they moved away from years of dominance with players such as Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili and Kawhi Leonard.
In fact, San Antonio made the playoffs just once during his tenure and lost in the first round when it did.
The Spurs rescinded the qualifying offer they made Walker last offseason, which freed him to enter unrestricted free agency and eventually sign with the Lakers. He had a very similar secondary role with the Purple and Gold at first and ended the season averaging 23.2 minutes, 11.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.
However, he missed time with a knee injury in the middle of the season and then found his role dramatically reduced after Los Angeles added D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt ahead of the trade deadline.
By playoff time, it was a question if Walker would be a factor at all in the rotation. And it seemed like that question was answered when he played a grand total of 16 minutes in the first-round win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Yet he changed the narrative of his season with a breakout showing in Game 4 of the second-round series against the Golden State Warriors. He poured in 15 points in the fourth quarter to spearhead a late comeback and rescue home-court advantage and perhaps the series.
Walker also scored 13 points in 14 minutes in the closeout Game 6 of that series.
While he wasn't as much of a factor in the Western Conference Finals loss to the Denver Nuggets, there is still plenty to like about him considering he is 24 years old and likely has some untapped potential as a first-round draft pick.
Perhaps a change of scenery can help him reach that potential as his career continues.
Brooklyn certainly hopes that is the case with this new deal.
