Will Lonnie Walker IV be back with the Nets next season?
The Brooklyn Nets have some important decisions to make this offseason as they look to improve the team enough to make it back to the playoffs next season. One of the ways that Brooklyn can improve this summer is in free-agency and one of their free-agents may be going elsewhere if more money comes his way.
Guard Lonnie Walker IV is one of five free-agents that the Nets have this offseason (excluding Two-Way players) and he could be one of the guys that comes back to Brooklyn if the price is right. However, if Walker is looking for a bigger role within a team’s offense, he may have to find another team to play for given what happened in Brooklyn this past season.
Walker, 25, is coming off a 2023-24 season in which he averaged 9.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 42.3% from the field and 38.4% from three-point land. While Walker had some big moments for the Nets this season, there were also some moments that will probably make him reconsider whether he should come back to Brooklyn.
Walker began the season looking like a potential Sixth Man of the Year candidate as he averaged 14.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 48.9% from the floor and 46.3% from deep. However, in a 129-128 loss against the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 30, Walker suffered a left hamstring strain that sidelined him for the next 17 games.
After Walker came back from his injury, he was not the same as he averaged 7.7 points per game on 38.5% shooting from the field and 34.1% from behind the three-point line amidst a reduced role. If the Nets are committed to making the team better this offseason, that could mean that there’s less of a chance for Walker to get that increase in role, increasing the possibility that Walker may have played his last game as a Net.
