During the first couple of months of this regular season, Lonnie Walker IV, a guard the Los Angeles Lakers signed to a one-year contract last summer, was arguably their third-best player, at least offensively.
In his first 30 games of the year, he averaged 15.3 points a game while shooting 46.4% from the field and 39.8% from 3-point range, numbers that were significantly higher than those he put up in his first four seasons in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs.
But Walker was sidelined by an injury. Though, he returned, he never recaptured his pre-injury level of performance. He fell out of head coach Darvin Ham’s rotation following the blockbuster Russell Westbrook trade. He received little playing time, usually in garbage time, and there were plenty of games in which he never saw the court.
Some players in his position would’ve pouted and suffered from a bout of self-pity while preparing to leave the team during the offseason. But Walker stayed positive and ready.
He received playing time at the end of the Lakers’ Game 2 blowout loss against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday and did well, which earned him 24 minutes in Game 3, leading to him scoring a dozen points.
Walker received 27 minutes in Game 4 on Monday, and he was the man of the hour, scoring all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter. With LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell playing poorly offensively, Walker was literally the difference between winning and losing for L.A., as it came out on top, 104-101, and took a 3-1 series lead.
Self-help guru Zig Ziglar once said “success occurs when opportunity meets preparation,” and that’s exactly what happened for the 24-year-old.