Former Cane Lonnie Walker IV Making Mark with Los Angeles Lakers
Despite the Los Angeles Lakers rough start, former Miami Hurricane guard Lonnie Walker IV has seemed to have established himself in the rotation in his first year with the team. Walker has seemed to be an excellent addition to the Lakers considering he was able to score 15 points during his last two games, and 26 three games ago.
Walker is now averaging 15.3 points per contest, while playing 32.3 minutes per game. While the points are great, the minutes might be more important because they show a confidence in his abilities by the Lakers coaching staff. He’s continuing to show improvement from where he was with his last NBA team.
During his first four seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, Walker was able to provide growth in points, rebounds, and assists every year. He has come a long way from his rookie year where he only averaged 2.6 ppg while appearing in only 17 games. Further, Walker only averaged around seven minutes of playing time during those games.
During the 2021-22 season, he averaged 12.1 points per game, 2.2 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game, while appearing in 70 contests. This is a promising sign for the Lakers since Walker has all the athletic gifts to be a star in the NBA.
This season, Walker is getting an opportunity to play and learn from generational talents in Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook.
In his time with the San Antonio Spurs, he was not able to play with talents like them. Although it is early, it seems like Walker might be the starter for the Lakers at shooting guard. It will be critical for Walker to make the most of the next few matchups in order to secure playing time while competing with other guards such as Kendrick Nunn, Austin Reaves, Patrick Beverly, Austin Reaves, Dennis Schroeder, and lastly, Russell Westbrook himself.
Although Walker is finally getting a chance to flourish in front of the bright lights in Los Angeles at the NBA level, it should not be surprising that he’s doing well considering he was a highly recruited prospect from Reading (Pa.) High School. Walker was named a McDonald's All American and was ranked No. 12 in the ESPN Top 100 for the class of 2017.
Once he enrolled at the Universityof Miami, he was able to make an immediate impact. As a freshman, he averaged team-high 11.5 points per game and was the first freshman to lead the team in scoring since the 2000-2001 season.
He was awarded Honorable Mention All-ACC honoree and became the first freshman in Miami history to earn all-league honors. He was able to lead the Canes to a 22-10 overall record during his one season in Coral Gables, and then was drafted with the 18th pick by the Spurs in 2018.
Fans of the Hurricanes should be excited for Walker. If he continues his hard work, he has a chance to play in the NBA for a long time.
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