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Celtics Sign Free Agent Lonnie Walker IV to $10 Contract

The Boston Celtics have signed free agent guard Lonnie Walker IV to an Exhibit 10 contract, his agent, George S. Langberg of GSL Sports Group, told The Athletic's Shams Charania on Wednesday.

Boston Celtics guard Lonnie Walker IV is likely to play for the Maine Celtics, an NBA G League team.

The Exhibit 10 contract is a one-year contract that allows an NBA team to offer a player a bonus if he is waived after training camp, and continues to play for the team's G League affiliate.

The Maine Celtics are Boston's G League affiliate. In fact, the team began the 2009-10 season as the Maine Red Claws. The Maine Celtics are based in Portland and have won three division titles (2015-17).

Walker, 25, posted a career-best 13.1 efficiency rating and averaged a true shooting percentage of 54.5% with the Brooklyn Nets in the 2023-24 season.

According to the Basketball-Reference database, Walker averaged a career-high 55.1% three-point attempt. His fielding percentage (24.4%) was a career high as well.

In 58 games off the bench with the Nets last season, he averaged 9.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 17.4 minutes per contest while shooting 42.3% from the field, 38.4% from beyond the arc, and 76.3% from the field. free line.

Walker made a career-high 3-pointer in a loss against the Philadelphia 76ers last season

Additionally, in Brooklyn's 121-99 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on November 19, 2023, he recorded a season-high 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting (52.9%) from the floor and made six 3-pointers. .

Last season, then-Nets coach Jacque Vaughn praised Walker for his patience with the coaching staff.

“I wanted him to feel who we were, how he was playing, get to know him,” Vaughn said. “Then, I'm not kidding him [in] the first game. For him to continue to commit to the team, to… stay with us. To me, that speaks to who he is, how we can build with him. He has shown the ability he can produce.”

Walker spent the first four years (2018-22) of his career with the San Antonio Spurs after being selected with the 18th overall pick in 2018. The 6-foot-4 guard spent one season (2022-23) with the Los Angeles Lakers. before signing a one-year, $2 million contract with Brooklyn.

He now joins a Celtics squad that returns most of its roster from last season's title-winning team. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Kristaps Porzingis are all back.

If Walker makes the team, he will likely play on the second unit.


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