The contract that veteran shooting guard Lonnie Walker signed with Zalgiris Kaunas in the fall included a clause that allowed him to opt out up until February 18 in order to return to the NBA.
However, Walker won’t take advantage of that opt-out, agent George S. Langberg tells Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link). The plan, Stein says, is for Walker to finish the current season in Lithuania and return to the NBA for the 2025/26 season.
Walker has 322 career regular season NBA games under his belt, having spent time with the Spurs, Lakers, and Nets from 2018-24. Last season, he averaged 9.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 17.4 minutes per game across 58 appearances for Brooklyn, with a shooting line of .423/.384/.763.
The 26-year-old was in camp with the Celtics in October before being cut ahead of the team’s regular season opener.
Multiple reports in recent months have suggested that Walker was drawing interest from NBA teams, including a handful of playoff-caliber clubs. However, it’s unclear whether or not any of those teams made a serious pitch to bring him back stateside.
Walker has averaged 13.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 19 EuroLeague games (22.3 MPG) for Zalgiris this season, though his shooting percentages are just 38.7% from the field and 33.1% on three-pointers.
Any team looking to acquire bench scoring, he would have definitely helped. Good for him though. He’ll get another shot in the NBA in the not to distant future. Always liked LW IV.
Finally. It was kind of getting stupid that Boston fans thought Lonnie Walker was going to break into the Celtics rotation…
Pure delusion. Walker’s issue has always been the defensive end. Guy can shoot, but cannot guard my grandmother in a wheelchair.
I will say, Lonnie was an intriguing/fun watch on the Celtics but it seems like it definitely was the right move not to keep him: .387/.331 isn’t great