Lonnie Walker IV joined the Los Angeles Lakers last season as their biggest free agent signing, agreeing to a 1-year deal on the mid-level as part of Los Angeles’ quest to get younger and more athletic.
Walker started the season as one of the bright spots in the Lakers rotation, averaging 15.1 points and shooting 39.3 percent from three through the first 31 games of the season before being sidelined with a knee injury. During his time on the shelf, the Lakers made the blockbuster three-team deal to send Russell Westbrook and a first round pick to Utah and acquire D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Malik Beasley. Once Walker was healthy again, he found his spot in the rotation was no longer as secure in a more crowded backcourt, with Darvin Ham trying different combinations down the stretch.
When the regular season ended, Walker had still posted one of the best seasons of his young career, averaging 11.4 points per game in his most efficient shooting season (a career-best 57 percent True Shooting percentage). That said, while his minutes weren’t always consistent, he tried to make the best of it, as Walker got to see what things led to his teammates getting on the floor.
“I think one of the best things of being with the Lakers, when I got injured and I kind of stopped playing, I kind of got to watch why everyone else was getting minutes,” Walker tells Dime. “I’m like, ‘What’s making you stay on the floor? Is it defensive? Is it rebounding? Is it cutting? Is it corner threes?’ I was trying to take certain aspects of the game from like D-Lo and AR and other players where I can see, okay, maybe that’s what I got to continue to improve on and work on.
“I’m a very transparent person to say the least,” he continues. “So as far as, you know, talk like Coach [Chris] Jent, or Phil Handy, or my father, I always ask after games, ‘What did you see? What can I improve on?’ And usually, by the end of the year, I kind of got a collection of things that I know that I can lock in on and make my strengths stronger and my weaknesses my strengths.”
Walker points to increasing his conditioning and strength among his focus points this summer, along with continuing to hone his scoring ability from all three levels. He wants to build on his most efficient shooting season by trying to reach the vaunted 50-40-90 club, and he knows what he has to do to get to that point.
“For me, for the most part, it’s just about locking in. I truly feel like I’m a three level scorer,” Walker says. “I can score in a plethora of different ways, especially when I get hot from the three, midrange, floater, so really just trying to be like a 180 type of player: 50-40-90. And then as far as understanding the game and the rhythm, I’m not just going in there to score, but playing within the flow of the game, the rhythm of the game, trying to win, and keeping it efficient.”
This season in L.A. allowed him to watch one of the game’s greats up close in LeBron James, which provided an invaluable opportunity to see how the very best go about their business, on and off the court. He credits James and Anthony Davis with giving the rest of the team the confidence to fight through a dismal start to the season, constantly noting that they had talent but just needed to be patient with putting it all together. Walker says things jelled quickly after the trade deadline, but credits the leadership of the stars with keeping the team level-headed even through a rough start.
On a personal level, Walker has learned to do the same. He credits his grandparents and high school sports psychologist, Dr. Rick Neff, with providing him with the perspective and tools to get through rough patches. Walker’s grandparents would always tell him “you’re human too,” reminding him it’s all part of the process of growing to make mistakes and to feel what you feel, while Neff showed him how to address those feelings and find ways to take care of himself, which he does through meditation and journaling. Finding that comfort in himself off the court has helped him keep his mind clear when he steps on the hardwood.
“It not only brought me peace as far as meditating and having a routine of just self-care and mental care, but it elevated my game,” Walker says. “I think me taking time out of my day to write in my journal, maybe write what I feel or express my thoughts, that helps out a lot, because you don’t have that burden or weight weighing on your shoulders. So it gives you — I have internal peace and internal happiness a lot, and I’m very grateful for it. And I think it’s from meditating and doing those things in that nature.
“And because of that, it makes you lock in on the game more,” he continues. “It makes you love the game more. It makes you fall in love with it more, or whatever you might love. It might not be basketball, might not be football, but I think the mental aspect is the hardest part of almost any job in his world. If you have that mental aspect locked in, you can almost do anything. So, I really hone in on just self-care and mental care and understanding like, this is a tough time, maybe I need to breathe, talk to someone. But that, man, it’s helped me out through a lot.”
In the postseason, Walker’s role stayed limited, averaging 6.2 points in 13.8 minutes per game, but he had a breakout moment in Game 4 against the Warriors, scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter off of the bench to carry the Lakers to a critical win. For Walker, that moment provided him with evidence that all the work he’d put in behind the scenes, even when minutes weren’t steady after his knee injury, had been worthwhile.
“I always talk about divine timing and you’re time’s going to come and things of that nature,” Walker says. “I just stayed on the court. My pops, he always said, man, just keep your head down and stay in the gym. So I stayed in the gym. After games, I was going to the facility if not shooting at the arena. If we have practice, I’m there early, we’re gonna shoot after practice sometimes as well. I’m gonna come back at night to shoot as well. So I just stayed in the gym. Fell in love with it, you know? That’s like my wife. That’s my end all, be all. So I think during that time, I truly fell in love with the game even more, just because I was putting so much effort and sacrifice into it. And I think that game in that Warriors series kind of showed that, you know, I was ready because I was locked in. I was willing to just put in the sacrifice put in the time and just fall in love with it.”
It also only fueled his desire to play in more games like that. The Lakers’ run to the Western Conference Finals was Walker’s first real taste of the postseason — as a rookie, the San Antonio Spurs made it to the first round, but he was not part of the rotation — and as he gets ready to go into free agency, he says getting back there is his main focus. Having felt what a deep playoff run is like, Walker says he’s most interested in finding a chance to play on a contender again this summer.
Coming off of last season, he’s more confident than ever that he belongs in that environment, while also learning valuable lessons about what else he needs to add to his game to see his role increase.
“I think most importantly, it kind of showed me that I can contribute at one of the highest levels as far as basketball,” Walker says. “It showed I was capable of doing, and I saw what I can do on a consistent basis, even in the beginning of the season and then I kinda was able to see it in the playoffs. So, I think playing with LeBron and playing with such great players and to be able to kind of showcase my own talents shows that I ain’t no slouch. I’m only 24, so I think the best part about it is just I’m only gonna continue to get better and better. And I’m excited for what’s yet to become.”