Lakers: Can Lonnie Walker IV Keep Up Career-Best Season?
When your Los Angeles Lakers signed 6'4" shooting guard Lonnie Walker IV to a one-year, $6.5 million mid-level exception contract this year, this writer felt that that was something of an overpay. The market for Walker, who had put up okay scoring numbers on a series of lottery-bound San Antonio Spurs teams, did not seem to necessarily warrant more than, say, a veteran's minimum deal.
Now, much like current Sacramento Kings wing Malik Monk last year, Walker has exploded in an expanded role for a Lakers team desperate for his athleticism and, so far at least, long range shooting.
Walker was generally a bench role player during his four San Antonio seasons. He never averaged more than 12.1 points on 10.9 attempts from the floor, and though he had enjoyed solid above-average seasons from long range, he had seen his three-point rate dip last year to 31.4% on a career-most 5.0 tries a night. He was never seen as much of a defender, and being a less-than-elite scorer cooled the market for his services last summer.
Across 13 games for the Lakers (all starts), Walker is averaging 16.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.9 steals, while posting a .473/.348/.833 slash line. That 34.8% three-point percentage is hovering right around the league-average conversion rate, on a career-most 5.1 tries a night.
Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times reports that Walker's old Spurs head coach, Gregg Popovich, praised Walker's newfound collaborative play this season. “Learn how to play with teammates, understand what solid meant as far as winning and losing. And that takes a little bit of time,” Popovich noted. "And he’s definitely progressed throughout in that regard... He’s done a really good job. Because he always depended just on that athletic ability, it was so ridiculous compared to other people. But now he understands more the mental side of the game with each year that passes, and you can see that in his play.”
Walker has emerged as the Lakers' third-leading scorer, behind only LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He's averaging about a point more than Russell Westbrook, on roughly the same amount of field goal attempts. Los Angeles has severely benefitted from Walker's aggressive two-way play, his ability to slash inside to help L.A. secure fast-break buckets has been incredibly useful, as has his effort on the other end. The three-point shooting, if it can hold, should help open up the paint for Davis, James and Westbrook to drive.
