After going 0-5 to start the season, there wasn’t much to be happy about regarding basketball in the city of Los Angeles. Despite having LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers were one of the worst teams in the league early on and a large part of that was due to the playoff the supporting cast.
But in the weeks since, the Lakers have looked a lot better — and so has their starting shooting guard, Lonnie Walker IV. This season, Lonnie has been soaking up wisdom from guys like Russell Westbrook, and it has really paid off. After a slow start, Walker has rebounded well and has turned into one of L.A.s more reliable players this season.
In a recent chat with ESPN, the young guard spoke about his situation in Los Angeles and revealed his stance on making his tenure with the Lakers a long-term arrangement.
L.A. only has roughly $92 million in contracts committed for next season, when the salary cap is projected to be $134 million, plenty of space to keep Walker if he continues to help the Lakers win — he averaged 18.7 points on 52.5% shooting (46.7% from 3) during L.A.’s recent three-game winning streak.
“I’m here for one year,” Walker says. “I would love to be here for as long as I can. So what do I have to do to get to that point? Being disciplined, being engaged and just stacking the days and being the best I can be is something that’s going to get me there.”
Walker has been important for the Purple and Gold in this young season, but is he their answer going forward? Fortunately, Rob Pelinka still has more time to figure it out.
Can Lonnie Walker IV Be Part Of The Solution For The Lakers?
With LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers have a solid foundation that can be successful in the right situation. Besides that, the Lakers don’t have too many players who can be considered untouchable.
Even Lonnie Walker himself has fallen victim to endless trade rumors this season.
“You have to realize you can only control what you can control,: said Walker. “Everything else is in God’s hands. I’m a ballplayer. I’m not here to write about the news. I’m not a GM. I play ball…I come here, I do my work, I go home, I come back later on tonight and get some more shots. I’m just focused on basketball so anything that’s outside of basketball and whatnot, that’s outside of my responsibility and out of my control nor should I let it reflect or deflect onto myself. I try my best to not read into all of it and get into all of that extra stuff because that’s unnecessary energy you put on yourself.”
At this point, it’s impossible to say who will be on the Lakers this March, much less next season. Depending on how this team performs over the next few months, we could see the Lakers finally make some moves to commit to a long-term plan.
For now, Lonnie Walker is just doing his best to make himself useful and enjoying the show while he’s at it.
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