Lonnie Walker IV shines against the team that cut him, a sign he is ‘starting to get my footing’ with Sixers

BOSTON — Lonnie Walker IV has wrapped medical tape around his left wrist for the past two or three years, with the message “You vs. You” written in Sharpie.

It is a reminder that he’s only “competing with [himself] to be [his] best self,” while finding balance between the good, bad, and ugly, he told The Inquirer on Thursday.

Perhaps that explains why Walker, a Reading native, downplayed making his NBA return in his home state, after beginning the season with the Lithuania’s Žalgiris Kaunas. And why he downplayed that his best game so far with the 76ers came Thursday night against the Boston Celtics, the team that signed him to an Exhibit 10 deal before waiving him just before the season began.

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Yet Walker’s 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three-point range were a bright spot of the Sixers’ latest shorthanded, blowout loss to the defending NBA champions at TD Garden — and a positive step in the 26-year-old guard’s stretch-run audition to reestablish himself as an NBA player.

“It just felt good to just have a good game — finally,” Walker said from his locker late Thursday. “This was my first, really, overall better game, as far as finding some rhythm and flow within the team and within the league. More importantly, I’m just happy that I’m starting to get my footing right.

“But whenever you have a good game against a really good team, it’s always a good feeling.”

To be clear: Walker does recognize the significance of the roster he is on and the one on which he spent the preseason.

When the Sixers officially signed Walker on Feb. 21, he called the homecoming “surreal,” “humbling,” and “full circle.” He spent his childhood watching the era of Jrue Holiday, Elton Brand, and Andre Iguodala. He then morphed into Mr. Pennsylvania Basketball in 2017 and a one-and-done player at Miami, before being selected 18th overall by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2018 NBA draft.

After spending his first six NBA seasons with the Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, and Brooklyn Nets, Walker signed with the Celtics in August. He called his brief stint in Boston an accelerated lesson in professionalism and immersed himself in the aftermath of that team’s 2023-24 title run. He observed — and mimicked — the extra work teammates such as All-NBA wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown put in outside of practices.

“I just worked my tail off,” Walker said. “I think I took it to a whole ’nother level as far as my mental capabilities. … When you’re a part of a championship organization and [see] how they approach the game, it gives you a little bit more motivation and inspiration.”

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When Walker did not make the Celtics’ final roster — converting him to a full veteran minimum contract would have come with a $10 million tax hit — he said he considered joining the G League-affiliate Maine Celtics. But he had a great meeting with Žalgiris’ leadership, and his deal included a buyout clause if he received another NBA opportunity, he said.

“It was a moment of just betting on myself,” Walker said, “seeing how great of a basketball player I am and was yet to give.”

Walker also carried those work habits to Lithuania, an experience he called “honestly one of my more important parts of my young adult life.” If practice began at noon, he said, he would be at the facility at 9 a.m. for a cold plunge. And spending down time without family and friends around — he noted that he celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and his birthday alone this year — offered opportunity for self-reflection.

“When you’re an NBA player and you’re the breadwinner of your family and friends, a lot of people succumb to you,” Walker said. “They tend to tell you things that you want to hear, instead of the things you need to hear. Being overseas, I’m not around nobody. I’ve got to hold myself accountable. Day in and day out, I have to be consistent. …

“I’m really happy that I’ve been through it because now I’m kind of in my own lane as far as growing and developing and understanding what I can do in order to achieve what I want to.”

Walker averaged 13.5 points and shot 40% from three in 33 games with Žalgiris Kaunas. Though he knew a couple NBA teams floated interest, he had accepted that he likely would spend the rest of the season in Lithuania.

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He was on vacation in Paris — and asleep — when his agent called about two hours before his buyout deadline with the Sixers’ two-year, $3.7 million offer, which covers the rest of this season plus a team option for 2025-26. He was at his first Sixers practice about 36 hours later and joked that he would only be wearing team-issued sweatsuits for the foreseeable future (that was his postgame attire leaving TD Garden on Thursday).

Coach Nick Nurse said the Sixers were intrigued by Walker’s athleticism and outside shooting, after veterans Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon sustained significant injuries and Reggie Jackson was traded at the deadline. Walker’s early stints were shaky; he went 1-of-12 from beyond the arc in his first three games. But he totaled 13 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks in Monday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, and Nurse said before Thursday’s game that he believed Walker would “find his feet here a little bit and start having some good games.”

“He hasn’t played great by, probably, the numbers or his own admission,” Nurse said. “But I kind of see him coming out of that a little bit.”

The coach was correct. Walker was the Sixers’ first player off the bench on Thursday and quickly buried an open three-pointer. He hit two more deep shots before the opening quarter ended. In the third quarter, his dish to Guerschon Yabusele for a dunk cut the Celtics’ lead to 82-68 and prompted a timeout by Boston coach Joe Mazzulla. Another long ball from Walker rattled in with 2 minutes, 49 seconds left in the frame, getting the Sixers within 11 points about a minute before the Celtics’ game-clinching 20-2 run.

“I just had the intent of being who I am and knowing what I can do,” Walker said. “I know I can score. I know I can shoot the ball. I knocked down some really good shots early on. That kind of gave me my groove and my rhythm, and I’ve just been playing with confidence and just being aggressive.

“Everything I do is just try to move with intent and continue to prove that I belong here.”

When asked about Walker’s performance, Nurse praised his quick trigger but noted that when the Celtics ran him inside the three-point arc, he could have taken one dribble before rising back up for a midrange shot. That is an example of the development that can still occur with 20 games to play during this dreadful season.

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Walker’s focus lies in a similar place. Not that he is back near Reading, assuring that “home ain’t going nowhere.” Not that his best game as a Sixer came against the team that cut him nearly five months ago.

But on the message written on the tape wrapped around his wrist and how it captures this audition to reestablish himself as an NBA player.

You vs. You.

“Every game, I’ve got to play like it’s my last game,” Walker said. “Next year’s still not guaranteed, so I’m still trying to play to the best of my capability and show what I’m capable of doing night in and night out. Every day, I’m very optimistic, as far as dominating the day and getting 1% better and just staying present within the time.

“[I’m] understanding that, this temporary moment, I’m still fighting for a home. But just got to keep fighting.”