Lonnie Walker IV was listed as questionable because of an illness entering the Nets’ road matchup against the Detroit Pistons on March 7. The reserve guard played anyway and wound up having one of his better scoring performances off the bench since November in the loss, as he dropped 10 of his 21 points in the second quarter to help Brooklyn overcome a slow offensive start.
Walker’s gutsy performance was part of a three-game stretch from March 3 to March 7 where he averaged 17.7 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 47.6% from the field and 46.2% from 3-point range. But following his latest absence against the Charlotte Hornets on March 9, the 25-year-old’s stock has once again plummeted, and he has seemingly fell out of favor with interim head coach Kevin Ollie.
Walker, who was once in contention for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award before missing 17 straight games from Dec. 2 – Jan. 3 because of injury, has averaged just 2.2 points while shooting 21.1% from the field and 11.1% from deep over his last five appearances entering Thursday’s road game against the Milwaukee Bucks. In his last appearance against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday, he went 1-of-6 from the field and 1-of-5 from deep in just over 16 minutes off the bench.
Walker has not played at least 20 minutes since that Detroit game earlier in the month. He has averaged just 12.4 minutes per game over his last five appearances, and when asked about Walker’s reduced role following Tuesday’s loss, Ollie did not mince words.
“We just want him to get in there and play his minutes,” Ollie said. “We look at everything in totality rebounding, it’s not just points. We want guys to come in there and play with energy and he does that most of the time. But hopefully he can just take care of his minutes then it’s on him to make me play him more.”
Walker’s job is to get buckets off the bench and he obviously is not doing that right now. However, given the Nets’ desperate need for offensive contributors, a bounce-back performance in the coming games could be enough to pull him out of Ollie’s doghouse.
Ollie mentioned the rebounding element of it all, and Walker has recorded just six rebounds over his last five appearances combined. That, along with regaining his scoring rhythm, are two things that clearly must change if Walker wants to get back on the court for extended stretches. He has an overall offensive rating of 98.4 since March 3, one of the worst among Brooklyn’s reserves over that stretch.
Walker has had a rather turbulent season to no fault of his own. But part of Brooklyn salvaging its 2023-24 campaign starts with him pulling himself out of his current slump.
“I don’t like to make excuses for myself,” Walker said following the Nets’ defeat of the Philadelphia 76ers on March 5. “My father always said never to show a man weakness. So, when I go on that court, I’m not trying to play slow or seem like I’m injured or whatnot. Just trying my best to put it to work.”
