Lonnie Walker IV’s latest stop is in Istanbul.
Just three days after the Nuggets waived him, the veteran guard has signed with Besiktas, according to the Turkish club and his agent, Misko Raznatovic. The move sends Walker back to Europe after another brief NBA stint that never looked likely to last into the regular season.
Walker, the No. 18 pick in the 2018 draft, has built a seven-year NBA resume that includes 342 regular season games across four teams. He’s also spent plenty of time on the European circuit. The 27-year-old played for Zalgiris Kaunas in Lithuania for most of the 2024/25 season before moving on to Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel for the ’25/26 campaign.
His production in EuroLeague play last season was strong. Across 28 appearances for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Walker averaged 15.2 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 22.8 minutes per game, shooting .394 from the field, .351 from three and .758 at the line.
Walker had been in Denver camp on a non-guaranteed deal, but the math always worked against him. With the Nuggets’ cap situation, carrying a 15th player on a minimum contract would have added roughly $16.5 million to the team’s projected tax bill.
The signs pointed overseas once he was let go. On the same day Denver cut him, Raznatovic’s agency BeoBasket announced it had signed Walker, and reporting soon after indicated that at least three EuroLeague teams were interested in him, including Besiktas.
Now he joins a Besiktas team trying to climb from a 1-2 start in Turkey’s Basketbol Super Ligi and a 2-3 mark in the EuroLeague. The roster already features several former NBA players, including Jaylen Nowell, Furkan Korkmaz, Ante Zizic, and Devon Dotson.
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Nuggets Rookie Is Suddenly Forcing A Real Bench Debate
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There were still the usual rookie rough edges, especially a few defensive lapses, but Braziles overall showing gave the Nuggets something to think about as the rotation starts to take shape. For head coach David Adelman, the question is no longer just whether Brazile can hold his own in preseason minutes, but whether a real bench role is beginning to open up in front of him. [Read more 🡒]