Lakers: Lonnie Walker’s 2 Very Different Experiences Meeting Teammates Tim Duncan And LeBron James
As a professional basketball player, Lonnie Walker IV has been surrounded by some of the top players in the league, but even he gets star-struck by some of the greatest including Tim Duncan.
The 6’4'' Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard joined an episode of Buckets Outta Pocket podcast where he talked about his time playing on the San Antonio Spurs and also explained his first encounter with 15-time All-Star big man Tim Duncan went:
“One of my worst moments was when I met Tim Duncan for the first time," Walker said. "The He was standing there you know calm, cool, and collected. And I went up to him and I like choked on my saliva immediately, like coughing bad…I kind of walked away.”
As a player who was loyal to the San Antonio franchise for his entire 19-year career (sometimes at the expense of the Lakers), Duncan accumulated many accolades, including two MVP trophies and five NBA titles, and cemented his greatness with his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 and his NBA 75th Anniversary Team honor in 2021.
Because of the fact that Duncan is one of the most legendary players to put on a Spurs jersey, it is understandable that Walker would have such a reaction when meeting the Big Fundamental.
Luckily for Walker, he seemed to have learned from that embarrassing moment and took a different approach when meeting his current teammate, and Lakers star LeBron James.
Walker subsequently described how James for the first time in the Lakers' facility went down:
“So when I see him, I’m like ‘What’s up Bron’. We all cool. He’s like ‘What’s up champ.’ I’m like, ‘You know, chillin, blessed bro. You know, doing what I do. ”
Walker reenacted how he dapped up the all-time leading scorer in the most casual and smooth manner. Surely, the Lakers guard did not want to have a part two of what happened with him and Duncan. Meeting a 19-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion can certainly be intimating, but Lonnie made sure to play it cool.
It may still be hard to grasp, but now that the pair have been teammates for a year now, I’m sure Walker IV is accustomed to being in the presence of one of the greatest players in the league.
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