The only player that the Los Angeles Lakers have brought in this offseason that is not on a minimum contract is Lonnie Walker IV. San Antonio rescinded the qualifying offer from the 23-year-old, making him an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Walker turned that into a one-year, $6.4 million contract with the Lakers via the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception. The dream scenario for the Lakers was to land Malik Monk with this exception but his price was too steep for LA.
While Walker fit the trend of bringing in youth, the fit on the Lakers is a bit concerning. Walker has not been a proficient three-point shooter in the slightest in his NBA career and has not been a great defender, either. Although, Walker did commit to playing better defense in LA.
Regardless, the Spurs version of Walker is not what the Lakers want to get next season — they want a better version of Walker. Luckily, Walker is kickstarting his Lakers career with some strong play in the Hoopsville Pro-Am that is bound to get Lakers fans excited.
https://twitter.com/LALeBron23/status/1551379147859050496
The Lakers should be happy with Lonnie Walker’s Pro-Am dominance.
Yes, it is a pro-am and that is not necessarily the highest level of competition in the world. That being said, good players should play really well in these settings and that is exactly what Walker did. This is exactly the kind of stat line that the Lakers should expect out of him in this setting.
Now if the contrary happened then fans would have a right to be concerned. It definitely is possible for NBA players to play poorly in these settings as Talen Horton-Tucker recently put up a lackluster showing in the Drew League.
Not only are the numbers impressive, but the footage from the game itself is impressive as well. Walker was very obviously the best player on the court and once again, that is exactly what the team wants.
Lonnie Walker’s 36 Point Highlights at Summer Pro-AM today pic.twitter.com/l3OiFtL5T0
— Lakers Empire (@LakersEmpire) July 25, 2022
Does this guarantee that Walker is going to be much better in LA than he was with the Spurs? Not at all. But this is at least a step in the right direction and shows that there could be some untapped potential that LA can unlock.
4 former Lakers who could explode on new teams in 2022-23
The Los Angeles Lakers have had so much roster turnover in recent years. These former Lakers are on new teams next season and will thrive.
The hope is that this game is not an anomaly that only shows up in Pro-Am settings and instead can be an appetizer of what is to come next season for LA.