Lonnie Walker IV joined the Philadelphia 76ers midway through the season. The Sixers hold a team option on his contract for the 2025-26 campaign. As such, Walker is stuck in limbo as he waits to find out if he will become an unrestricted free agent or not.
Still, that doesn’t appear to be hindering Walker’s offseason plans. The veteran scorer is a gym rat and will undoubtedly be working on ways to improve his game throughout the summer.
“Just consistency and discipline,” Walker told the media on April 13, via Sixers Wire. “Like I said, being this close to home, it has its pros and its cons. You have to find a way to balance it all. I think a lot of people will tell you, I mean, even last night, I was in the gym still working like we have more games. So I’ve just been very consistent in the gym.”
Walker continued.
“If we have days off, I’m coming at night. If we have practice that morning, I’m still coming back at night time, and things of that nature. Just trying to just let my work ethic speak for what I do on the court and allow everything else to play itself out. I think that’s something that keeps me a lot of confidence is I know a lot of people don’t really work as hard and put in the sacrifice as much as I do.”
Walker played in 20 games for the Sixers. He averaged 12.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists, and shot 42% from the field and 35.4% from deep. Walker gives Nick Nurse a reliable bucket-getter and playmaker off the bench. Furthermore, Walker’s experience means he can eat starter-level minutes if the Sixers run into injury issues next season.
Keeping Walker Makes Sense for Sixers
Walker is on a minimum contract. He can provide the Sixers with double-digit scoring off the bench, while also running some of the team’s offense. Finding high-level cost-controlled talent is one of the most difficult aspects of a team’s roster construction.
Daryl Morey would be wise to pick up the team option on Walker’s deal. He could be a significant rotation player for the franchise in the upcoming campaign. And, with so many injury concerns throughout the roster, Walker’s steady hand could prove invaluable.
Philadelphia has a lot of work to do in terms of rebuilding its rotation. Walker should not be seen as one of the players who needs to be let go. Not when the second unit struggled for offense for most of the season.
Paul George and Joel Embiid Must Rebuild Value
While Walker is fighting for his spot on the Sixers roster, it would appear his superstar teammates are fighting to prove they’re still among the NBA’s elite. According to Trysta Krick of 670 The Score, Paul George and Joel Embiid are two of the worst contracts in the NBA.
“I think Bradley Beal is one of them (worst contracts) too, cause you can’t trade him,” Krick said on a recent episode of the ‘Liberty Ballers Podcast.’ “You’re not physically allowed to trade him. So he’s up there too. But yeah, I mean you’re talking about guys making supermax money that can’t stay on the floor… now you’re thinking to yourself, man, maybe L.A. [Clippers] did everything that they shoulda done by just letting him walk out the door. And not taking any money back. And you just signed these guys… I think they are the two worst contracts in the NBA right now.”
The Sixers have a lot of storylines surrounding the franchise and its players. Questions are undoubtedly going to be asked of the team’s offseason moves. Morey must figure out how to give Nurse the rotation players he needs to have a championship-level team.
Philadelphia needs a stronger supporting cast. Espeically if they don’t trust George and Embiid to remain healthy throughout the course of a full season.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Lonnie Walker IV Reveals Offseason Plan With Sixers Future Uncertain appeared first on Heavy Sports.