Lonnie Walker IV, the Lakers’ unlikely hero in NBA Playoffs, explained

Lonnie Walker IV probably thought he wasn’t going to play another meaningful minute this season for the Los Angeles Lakers. The 24-year-old guard was out of the Lakers’ rotation by the end of the season after the team reloaded its roster at the trade deadline. He did not play a meaningful minute in the team’s first round series win against the Memphis Grizzlies, and earned his first minutes against the Golden State Warriors in the second round only during garbage time of Game 2.

After Game 4, Walker IV is suddenly the Lakers’ new playoff hero. The guard led the Lakers down the stretch to secure a pivotal 104-101 win in Game 4 that gives LA a 3-1 series lead and has the defending champion Warriors on the brink of elimination.

Walker scored all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter of Game 4 to somehow bring the Lakers the comeback victory. With LeBron James and Stephen Curry on the floor, Walker ended up being the biggest star of the night in the most important game of the series so far. Watch his fourth quarter highlights here:

The Warriors only scored 17 points in the fourth quarter as a team, which means Walker nearly outscored them by himself. What’s even wilder is that Walker didn’t even take a field goal attempt in the first three quarters of the game.

When we ranked the 19 best players in the Lakers-Warriors series, Walker didn’t even make the list. There was no reason to believe he’d actually get playing time.

Only diehard NBA fans were familiar with Walker before he came to the Lakers. Even after signing with LA this summer and starting 32 games, he felt like a forgotten man for the team during the season as they restocked the rotation with new role players around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. For some reason, Lakers coach Darvin Ham trusted Walker in a critical Game 3, and he turned in a nice performance in an LA win. What he did in Game 4 was the stuff of legend.

Here’s what you need to know about Lonnie Walker IV.

Walker was a big-time recruit coming out of Reading, PA. He was ranked as the No. 13 overall player in the class of 2017, according to ESPN, and earned McDonald’s All-American status in a year headlined by Deandre Ayton, Michael Porter Jr., and Jaren Jackson Jr.

Here’s what I wrote about Walker when covering the 2017 McDonald’s All-American Game:

SG Lonnie Walker, Miami: Strong shooting guard who can score from all three levels.

Walker committed to Miami, where he would play one year before entering the 2018 NBA Draft. His college career got off to a slow start when he tore the meniscus in his right knee during preseason, but he would eventually get back on the court and help lead Miami to the NCAA tournament alongside current Denver Nuggets guard Bruce Brown. Walker’s breakout game happened against Louisville in conference play, as he dropped 25 points.

Walker also hit a game-winning three against Boston College as a freshman. Miami would lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament to No. 11 seed Loyola-Chicago, who would go on a Cinderella run to the Final Four. Walker ended the year averaging 11.5 points per game, a team-high for the Hurricanes, and also shot 34.6 percent from three.

Here’s what we said of the pick in our 2018 draft grades post:

18. San Antonio Spurs - Lonnie Walker IV, SG, Miami

Grade: A

Walker has lottery-level talent. He’s an athletic 6’4 shooting guard with a 6’10 wingspan who can hit shots off the catch and make plays above the rim. His stats weren’t great as a freshman at Miami (53 percent true shooting percentage), but he did have to battle back from a torn meniscus in the preseason. In a draft filled with big men, the Spurs might have just gotten one of the best guards available at No. 18.

Now please don’t look at what I wrote about the Zhaire Smith pick in that story.

Walker only played 17 games as a rookie after tearing the meniscus in his right knee again.

Walker played in 61 games for the 2019-2020 Spurs in the pandemic shortened season, averaging 6.4 points per game. After his first two years, he had not done much to establish himself as a long-term player in the league.

Walker wrote that he was raped as a child in an emotional Instagram post as the league paused for the pandemic. In a video, he cut his hair and wrote: “Me cutting my hair was more than a cut. My hair was a mask of me hiding the insecurities that I felt the world wasn’t ready for,” he wrote. “But now better [than] ever. Out with [the] old. In with the new. I have shed my skin mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.”

Walker started to establish himself as a solid NBA player during the 2020-2021 season where he averaged 11.2 points per game for San Antonio. He put up similar numbers the next season, but the Spurs decided not to sign him in free agency.

After losing a scoring guard off bench in Malik Monk during free agency, the Lakers decided to take a chance on Walker by signing him to a one-year, $6.5 million contract. Walker started 32 games this season, averaging 11.7 points per game and shooting 36.5 percent from three.

Walker could have gotten down on himself for falling out of the Lakers’ rotation, but instead he stayed ready and waited for his moment, even if it was never promised to come. He described his Game 4 performance as “the greatest feeling in the world.”

The list of teams who have advanced in the playoffs after trailing 3-1 in a series is not long, and now the Warriors have to do it to save their season. No one would have ever guessed LeBron James would be watching Lonnie Walker carry the offense late in the fourth quarter. It really happened.

Walker came so far in his life and his career to have a game like this on a huge stage. What a moment.