The Denver Nuggets have added another name to their roster shuffle, agreeing to a one-year, $3.3 million deal with Lonnie Walker IV, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Wednesday.
Walker is back in the NBA after spending time overseas with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the EuroLeague, and for Warriors fans, his name still carries a sharp edge. He was one of the players most associated with Golden State’s exit in the 2023 playoffs, when he was with the Los Angeles Lakers.
That series turned on a huge fourth-quarter burst from Walker in Game 4. Golden State went into the final period in Los Angeles up by seven, but Walker poured in all 15 of his points in the quarter and helped push the Lakers to a 3-1 lead. His six made field goals in that stretch matched the Warriors’ team total, and he became the first Laker since Kobe Bryant last century to score 15 points off the bench in the final quarter of a playoff game.
Walker had been held out in Game 1 of that second-round series, but he ended up becoming a major factor in the Lakers’ six-game win. He scored in double figures three times over the final five games, then added 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting in the series-clinching Game 6. Golden State did answer with a Game 5 win at home, but the damage from that Game 4 collapse had already been done.
His NBA path since then has bounced around. Before his season in EuroLeague, Walker played 58 games with the Brooklyn Nets and 20 with the Philadelphia 76ers. In Europe, he averaged 15.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
Now the 27-year-old heads into his eighth season in the league, and he could land a significant bench role in Denver after the Nuggets lost Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Miami Heat at the start of free agency. Golden State, meanwhile, are still working to fill out their own roster, with two spots open as Mike Dunleavy Jr. and the front office continue to sort out the main group. The Warriors were reportedly interested in Mario Hezonja before his return to the league was confirmed with the Cleveland Cavaliers last month, but there were no reported links to Walker.
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