The previous NBA goalkeeper joins Israeli energy earlier than the 2025/26 season, ought to play a key function and stimulate athletics and mark within the rear space of yellow and blue.
After having acquired curiosity from a number of Euroleague golf equipment – together with a two -year provide from Hapoel Tel Aviv – Lonnie Walker IV and his agent, George S. Langberg of GSL Sports activities Group, formally signed a $ 10 million contract over three years with this week with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
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The primary Nba Guard joins Israeli energy earlier than the 2025/26 season, the place he ought to play a central function and add elite athletics and mark yellow and blue within the rear space.
Walker’s determination to hitch Maccabi marks one of many high-level NBA-TOsEuroleague The actions of the offseason and mirror each the participant’s ambition and the rising attraction of Maccabi as a number one European vacation spot. The settlement contains an outside NBA legitimate till August 1 of this yr and on July 15 within the 2026 and 2027 walks. Its complete worth exceeds $ 10 million, putting it among the many greatest workers within the Euroleague.
For Maccabi, a membership with a deep historical past, a rabid assist for followers and passionate nationwide comply with -up in Israel, the arrival of Walker brings a brand new layer of worldwide recognition. Though the group will not be unrelated to the large names, he not often has a Pedigree NBA participant from Walker at his peak – after a stable end with the 76ers of Philadelphia and a productive passage from the Euroleague with žalgiris Kaunas.
Walker started the 2023/24 season after being canceled by the Boston Celtics, however lastly landed with žalgiris, the place he has a mean of 13.6 factors, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per match, acquiring a efficiency index (PIR) of 11.3. He has notably had an influence in key matches, marking 24 factors in a victory in opposition to Panathinaikos and 26 in Belgrade in opposition to Partizan.
The American-French striker Jaylen Hoard returns to Maccabi Tel Aviv on a three-year contract. (Credit score: fiba / courtesy)
The Euroleague season has been interrupted
His season within the Euroleague was interrupted by an NBA return on the finish of February, when he signed a two-year contract with the 76ers after a mid-season takeover. He responded with 12.4 factors, 3.2 rebounds and a couple of.5 assists per match in 20 appearances, though the Sixers refused his $ 2.9 million participant choice on account of intersane ceiling issues.
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Between 2018 and 2024, Walker appeared in 322 NBA common seasonal video games for the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets and 76ers. He’s greatest recognized for his time with the Lakers, the place he was a key rotation participant within the first half of the 2022/23 season and helped preserve the aggressive group to the deadline.
His decisive second got here on Might 8, 2023, throughout the Lakers eliminatory collection within the second spherical in opposition to the Golden State Warriors – and he didn’t arrive earlier than the fourth quarter of the match 4. Coach Darvin Ham, in search of a spark in a divest obligation rotation, turned to Walker in match 3.
Nevertheless it was match 4 that cemented its inheritance. The Lakers, taking part in at residence and dragging by a single determine within the fourth quarter, have been in search of solutions. Walker, who had not shot within the first half, was reintegrated with 3:48 to do within the third quarter – and he by no means bought out. He scored 15 factors out of 6 on 9 photographs on the fourth quarter solely, serving to the Lakers to come back from behind to take the lead and at last win the match.
Efficiency has develop into generally known as “The Lonnie Walker Recreation”. It was a poetic and unforgettable efficiency – and even echoed historical past: 26 years earlier throughout the day, on Might 8, 1997, Kobe Bryant additionally scored greater than 15 factors on the bench in a victory within the playoffs.
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Because of accidents, the uncertainty of alignment and function modifications, Walker has remained resilient.
“The remainder of the candle,” he posted after the match, a nod to the persistence that outlined his profession.
Now he brings this identical frame of mind to Israel – a rustic with a rising basketball tradition and a group able to face. Walker ought to prosper in Tel Aviv, a metropolis that has already kissed American stars and the place Maccabi followers will undoubtedly be a part of their new excessive -flying goalkeeper.
For Walker, this determination affords a brand new begin in one of many basketball essentially the most passionate markets. For Maccabi Tel Aviv, it is a daring step in direction of restoration of the glory of the Euroleague – with a confirmed winner prepared to hold out the load.
