Ranking the Lakers offseason additions by their preseason play
By Jason Reed
1. Lonnie Walker IV
The Los Angeles Lakers spent the most on Lonnie Walker IV in free agency as he signed the one contract that the team could give out. Los Angeles signed Walker to the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, which was a surprising decision at the time.
Walker really didn’t show anything tremendous with the San Antonio Spurs and it was clear that the Lakers were betting on the pedigree and traits of Walker. If it works out, Walker could end up being a great bargain signing for the team.
We have not gotten to the point where we can project it to be a great signing for LA but the team has to like the results thus far. Walker has looked like a completely different player than when we saw him in San Antonio, which is a great thing.
Walker has shown a playmaking ability that simply was not there on the Spurs. Not only has he shown the ability to create his own shot but he has been creating for others, which is a really intriguing wrinkle in his game.
Defensively Walker has shown improvement and is playing with the kind of effort that he needs to. His length and athleticism give him an advantage defensively and we are finally seeing him tap into that with the Lakers.
It has not been all positive as Walker has been inconsistent with his jump shot as he is shooting 31.1% from three and 38.9% from the field. But when LeBron James and Anthony Davis share the court with him, he will suddenly get much cleaner looks that will bode nicely for his percentages.