As the San Antonio Spurs officially embrace a complete rebuild after trading Dejounte Murray for picks, their top free agent, Lonnie Walker IV found himself seeking a new team after the Spurs rescinded their qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Walker appeared in 70 games for the Spurs last season with six starts and averaged 12.1 points per game, a career-high, on 40.7 percent shooting from the field and 31.4 percent shooting from three, showing some positive signs on both ends of the floor. The Los Angeles Lakers, who lost Malik Monk to the Kings in free agency, decided to swoop in on Walker and replicate the success they had in a similar situation with Monk last year after the Hornets failed to extend him a QO. However, this time it cost the Lakers their only real way of improving the roster significantly, as they’ll bank heavily on Walker being a key contributor by giving him a one year deal for the taxpayer mid-level exception.
Lonnie Walker IV is signing a one-year, $6.5M deal with the Lakers, sources said. https://t.co/7xBnStLWfo
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2022
That’s certainly showing their belief in Walker to bring them some much-needed assistance on the wing, and while he won’t provide the shooting of Monk, he’s a terrific athlete and on a team with aging veteran stars, that’s incredibly valuable for the Lakers. The rest of L.A.’s moves now figure to be via minimum deals and, potentially, a trade to shake things up.
