NBA player Lonnie Walker IV talks about Reading High's most recent basketball state title

Jul. 18—Though his basketball journey has taken Lonnie Walker IV, at times, thousands of miles away from Reading, his hometown is never far from his heart and mind.

Back in March, when Reading High was beating Roman Catholic 63-56 in overtime to win its third PIAA Class 6A championship since Walker led the Red Knights to their first title in 2017, the 6-4 guard said he was watching while on a plane with his then-Los Angeles Lakers teammates.

"LeBron (James) and them kept watching me curse people out and stuff, screaming on the plane," Walker said Tuesday.

Not long after the Red Knights lifted the trophy and collected their gold medals, Walker was reaching out.

"I called Coach P (Rick Perez)," Walker said. "I called almost everybody. Talked to them a 1,000 times. I'm happy to see what we're doing."

Walker, who recently agreed to a one-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets, was back in town for the first day of his annual two-day Lonnie Walker IV Foundation youth basketball camp at the Geigle. About 300 kids ages 7-16 were in attendance at the free event Tuesday.

Walker, as expected, was the star of the show.

"It's a blessing," Walker said. "This is one of the more humbling things that I do, being able to see a lot of kids from back home. And I'm just giving them motivation and inspiration."

Walker — who also was in Reading last month for the dedication of Baer Park's newly refurbished basketball court, the $180,000 cost of which split between the city and his foundation — was taking pictures and signing plenty of autographs Tuesday.

During his session with the media, he let a boy who couldn't have been 10 ask a few questions.

The boy's final question was about how Walker has gotten to where he is.

"I worked really hard, stayed in the gym and just worked my tail off," he said. "That's what you gotta do. Blood, sweat and tears. Yeah, I'm sweating right now. Are you sweating? I'm sweating more than you. That means you're not working hard."

Surely that interaction and message — delivered with a smile — will create a lasting impression, much as Walker remembers his encounters with the Reading High hoops greats of his youth.

"One of my favorite players was Trenity Burdine and I can tell you the amount of times that I got to talk to him when I was younger after his games," Walker said, "when he came to city park. Or (Wilson grad and quarterback) Chad Henne when he built one of the parks on the north side of Reading. Moments like those last forever. I'm 24 years old and I still remember those things when I was 7, 8, 9 years old, so to be able to talk to the kids, I just know it goes a long way."

Walker need look no further for proof than the Red Knights' most recent state title.

He said some of those players had attended his earlier camps. Point guard Myles Grey, an All-Berks pick who will continue his athletic and academic careers as a freshman at West Chester next month, was working the camp Tuesday.

"The thing about Reading is everybody kind of knows everybody," Walker said. "It's a small circle. So I think as far as the Reading community and a lot of the kids, I got to watch them grow and become men, to say the least."

Walker's group, of course, broke the glass ceiling and ended the years of frustration with the program's first state title in 2017.

"I mean, I would say it's one of them is one of the better feelings, to say the least," said Walker, a senior that season. "All we needed was one. It was like a domino effect. So, by the grace of God, you know, I think kids seeing that, created some type of motivation, 'Like dang, if they can do it. we can do it.' So I think the work ethic and the mentality, playing for Reading, it holds a lot of weight. So it's just amazing."

Walker agreed to a one-year deal reportedly worth $2.3 million with Brooklyn after a rollercoaster season with the Lakers, and told reporters last week while in Las Vegas for the NBA Summer League, that he saw "opportunity" with a Nets group that includes small forwards Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges, citing, among other things, the players' "similar outlook on life."

"I'm very happy to be with the Brooklyn Nets," Walker said Tuesday.

The Nets, too, appear to be happy to have Walker — who averaged 11.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game in 56 games last season — as assistant coach Kevin Ollie is scheduled to be in attendance Wednesday at the Geigle.

And while Walker is excited to be part of that Nets' young core, being in Brooklyn also gives him opportunities he hasn't had while playing four seasons in San Antonio and one in Los Angeles.

Now, his hometown will be just a relatively short drive away.

"I'm excited to be back on the East Coast," Walker said. "I'm just happy to be very close to home and (be able to) see my grandparents. Have a couple of days off, go see people and whatnot. So I'm just happy to be there."