Lonnie Walker IV established his value to the Los Angeles Lakers last night with a sensational 15-point fourth-quarter performance to lead the Lakers to a 3-1 lead with a Game 4 win.
Walker had an emotional response to Kenny Smith after the game when he was asked if he works out with anger or diligence, or both.
“Internally, probably both. Not anger in the sense of not being able to play but from the sense that nobody knows who I am yet. Understanding my value and capability on the floor. It comes with a lot of diligence and a lot of discipline. I’ve been doing this for 24 years of my life. I’ve always been in the gym and nothing’s ever gonna change. The proof is in the pudding, the harder you work, the more sacrifices you make, the better the outcome.”
"I've been doing this for 24 years of my life. I've always been in the gym and nothing's ever gonna change… The harder you work, the more sacrifices you make, the better the outcome."
Lonnie Walker IV on his 15 point 4th quarter in Game 4 vs. Warriors 🙏🏽https://t.co/WNYHhKAVHo
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 9, 2023
Walker was a lottery pick for the San Antonio Spurs but the franchise gave up on him this summer and chose to not include him in their rebuild. He signed a one-year contract to prove his value in the NBA with the Lakers. He had to be emotional after the game given the ups and downs of his career culminating with a starring role in a playoff win over the defending champions.
Despite falling in and out of the rotation, Walker stayed ready and was showered with praise by LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Even if his Lakers journey ends this season, Walker will have NBA teams interested in him for next season based on this performance alone.
The Lakers Rotation Is Stepping Up When Needed
The only consistent thing in this series full of inconsistency is that the Lakers have had one of their rotational players have a big impact in every game. Game 4 saw Lonnie and Austin Reaves have a big night. Game 3 saw D’Angelo Russell step up, while Rui Hachimura gave the Lakers a big contribution in Game 2. Similarly, Dennis Schroder was instrumental in the Lakers winning Game 1 of the series.
Without LeBron James playing as much off-ball basketball as we have seen, the Lakers wouldn’t be able to empower these young players to have the offensive explosions they keep having. There’s enough firepower down the roster that at least one person will give them big numbers outside their top two. Walker has forced his name into the conversation too and someone from this rotation will go off in Game 5 as well,.
Whether it’ll be in a loss or a win is something we’ll have to wait and watch.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
