Episode 48: Lonnie Walker IV, Nets Guard

Chris sits down with the Brooklyn Nets' newest free agent signing, Lonnie Walker IV, to discuss his path in the league, roots in Reading, PA, and the story behind cutting his hair.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey, what's going on? Chris Carino here, the longtime radio
voice of the Brooklyn Nets. A little podcast we call
The Voice of the Nets, a weekly podcast where we
dive into some of the things going on around the
Nets and more conversations with a variety of guests including
players and coaches. Today on the show. It is one
of the newest Nets. Lonnie Walker the fourth This is

(00:30):
a don't Judge a book by its cover edition. Joe
Harris trade is now official. He is on to Detroit.
Just want to take a moment to talk about Joe.
Back in twenty fourteen, he was a second round pick
of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and initially he was going to

(00:51):
be joining a team that was in a bit of
a rebuild. And suddenly they get Lebron James back, and
now it's no longer a developing team a rebuilding team.
It's a team with one of the great players of
all time coming back and has championship aspirations. And Joe

(01:14):
spent some time in the G League and it eventually
needed foot surgery early into his second season with the Cavaliers.
But up until the time he is being rolled into
the operating room, he is thinking I am going to
rehab from my injury, and I'm going to be a

(01:34):
part of a team that possibly may win a championship.
This is the NBA dream or a second round pick
out of Virginia Joe Harris, and Joe told me this
story on a foundation event we did, the Chris Carino Foundation.
We had a virtual event and Joe was kind enough
to come on and talk to us about overcoming adversity

(01:57):
and resiliency, and he talked about being wheeled into the
operating room thinking yeah, I'm going to be part of
a championship team. And then when he gets out and
he gets to his phone, he gets a call from
the Cavaliers that say he's been traded. Literally while he
was in surgery, he was traded to the Orlando Magic.
And then forty minutes after that he gets a call

(02:20):
from the Orlando Magic that he's been released. So think
about that going into surgery thinking you're a part of
a team with Lebron James can win a championship, and
then a few hours later you're out of the league
and facing rehabilitation from a surgery. Joe ended up rehabbing

(02:43):
from the injury, spent time with a friend in New
York and was working out there and playing pickup games.
And now enter the Brooklyn Nets and Sean Marks. And
if you remember this time, the Nets were without draft picked,
they were without salary cap space, and they were trying

(03:04):
to build. And how do you do that without those options? Well,
you have to go out and find reclamation projects. You
have to find guys in the discount ben And at
that moment, Joe Harris needed the Nets. The Nets needed
Joe Harris to become the kind of player he was

(03:27):
before the injury. Joe Harris would sign with the Nets
and spend seven seasons in Brooklyn. He became the franchisees
all time leader in three point field goals, made thirteenth
all time leading score in franchise history, led the NBA

(03:47):
in three point shooting twice, became the franchise's first player
to ever win the three point shootout at All Star Weekend.
He went from out of the league and injured to
being an all time Net And I understand that he
had some big opportunities in huge games where reputations are

(04:12):
made for better or worse, and not being able to
come through in those situations. Sits with Net fans. It
sits with Joe Harris more than anybody, and that's why
it was gut wrenching at the time, because you know
how much Joe Harris cared. The guy always played hard,
He played through stuff, including an ankle injury the last

(04:33):
couple of years, and nobody wanted to win more than
Joe Harris. Nobody cared more about the team over his
own personal success than Joe Harris. And in the end,
Joe got a huge contract and it's part of the
reason why at this point he had to be moved.

(04:54):
And it sets him up for life from the depths
of coming out of surgery and finding out that your
NBA dream may be over, to a place where he
becomes an all time player with a franchise that's Joey Buckets,
and we wish him all the best. Thirty one years old,
I think he still got some good basketball left in him.

(05:17):
In my twenty two years as the radio voice of
the Nets and almost thirty over thirty years with the organization,
he is one of the greatest people to everwhere in
that uniform and I'm going to miss him. Here's what
I knew about Lonnie Walker before the Nets signed him

(05:40):
wild hair, wild game, wildly athletic, late first round pick
of the Spurs. At the time, thought it was it
was a great pickup. Thought he lasted a little longer
than what the pundits had said he would last. They
were everybody was praising San Antonio for getting him with

(06:01):
the nineteenth pick in the first round that year, and
then when saw him in person a few times with
the Spurs, it was electric, but you know there you
could see it was a period of time there where
the Spurs We're going through that rebuild, and his timing
really didn't fit the rebuild. He ends up going to
the Lakers last year, the hair is all gone, played

(06:24):
well early and then when I saw them later in
the year, it didn't. It was surprised to see that
he wasn't really in the rotation, found out he had
an injury, kind of fell out of the rotation after
they made all those moves at the trade deadline last year,
and then watching them in the playoffs was I was
kind of scratching my head as to why Lonnie Walker
wasn't playing, and then he gets called into action in

(06:47):
that Golden State Series in the second round. Big Game
four has a huge fourth quarter helps them win that game,
go three to one in the series, and played a
role for them after that. But always thought that maybe
in the right situation, Lonnie Walker is going to be
a good pickup for somebody. And then lo and behold

(07:07):
this summer free agency, Lonnie Walker gets picked up by
the nets. And when I was told I was going
to get a chance to talk to him here for
the podcast, I now start doing a deep dive into
Lonnie Walker and found out a lot of things that
add layers to Lonnie Walker as a person. The first

(07:31):
thing you're struck with when you're around him is he's
got a terrific personality, always smiling, real personable, grain energy.
You know, I'm into energy givers. He's an energy giver
right described as a kid from Reading, Pennsylvania, a place
that helped shape him as a person as a basketball player, obviously,

(07:55):
but it's also a place that, for Lonnie Walker was
filled with poverty and sexual abuse. And when he sat down,
you know, I said to him, I've learned so much
about you, Lonnie, and there's so many things I want
to talk to you about. Is there anything that's too
personal for you to talk about? And he said absolutely not.

(08:18):
I'm an open book. He just looked at me and
smiled and said, I'm an open book. And we got
into a lot of things that got deep at times,
but certainly things that I think are helpful for people
to hear. And that's why he's come out and told
his story. You know, the wild hair that he had
that used to stick straight up, you know, it's gone
and there's a reason behind it. There's a story behind

(08:41):
it that he will tell here on the podcast, So
I hope you enjoy it. Lonnie Walker the Fourth, a
kid from Reading now member of the Brooklyn Nets. Right
here on the Voice of the Nets. Lonnie, I want
to you have a great story. And when I found

(09:01):
out the Nets were were acquiring you, I was really
excited for for one as a player, but also as
a person and what I know about you. And we're
gonna get into your story a little bit. But let's
let's tell your story backwards here. Let's let's start right
now where we are. I'm sure you had some other
options and choices to make here a free agency. What

(09:22):
brought you to the Nets? Honestly, just the opportunity I've
seen what was presented here.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
You know, we got great players as far as Spencer
Dinwiddie and Mikelbridge, who I haven't known for a little while.
So the chemistry is already kind of there. And you know,
it's it's been a while since I've been on the
East Coast. You know, I'm excited to just be here,
you know, play to the best of my capability, and
you know, have a good time while I'm over here.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Did you know Michael from Pennsylvania Basketball?

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (09:49):
When I when I was getting recruited by Nova, he
was over there. So I used to always go back
and forth, you know, every time I was with Jay
Wright up there at the camps and whatnot.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
I spent a couple times with his goofy self.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
How did Jay write, Let you get out of Pennsylvania?

Speaker 3 (10:03):
It was hard, you know.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
I think my whole family at one point believed that
I was going to Villanova. I mean, he came, he
seen my grandmom, My grandma, fell in love with him.
That's all she used to talk about was Jay Right.
But I think for me as a man, I wanted
to get as far as I can, you know, get
off the nest and kind of learn who I am
as a human.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Being Miami is not a bad place to do that.
Oh no, not at all. What about Jim Larenega, because
he ends up getting you to Miami, He's a he's ah.
I find him to be a really cool guy. I
mean his we see his dancers in the locker room
and what what what was it about Coach Larenega that

(10:42):
maybe was able to get you to join him in Miami?

Speaker 2 (10:45):
I mean the coaching staff, you know him and Coach Fish. Uh,
they're just genuine love to say the least. You know,
they told me what what was presented, you know, already
telling me you know, you're not going to start immediately here.
You have to earn it, and you gotta gotta gain
this and gain that. And I think that's something that
I've always wanted. I don't want everything to be handed
to me. And having someone like Coach l who was

(11:06):
always around and you know, giving me genuine and authentic
love and telling me, you know, my my potential and
what I could be.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
You know, I think it was instant love. Honestly.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
I know I said we were going to work backwards,
but we've we've we've kind of segued into Miami and
I wanted to ask you about that because talk to
Derek Whitehead, who the Nets are drafted recently, and you
know he was injured right before the start of his
first season of duke there. You had a similar situation, right,
you get you get hurt in I think it was
like July first or college first practice. Yeah, what did that?

(11:42):
What did that force you to do?

Speaker 3 (11:43):
Though?

Speaker 1 (11:44):
How did that help? Maybe the sitting there help you
develop as a player going into college.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
I think it was just the mental growth, you know.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
I think going there, I was already like excited, running
on fumes. I just won state championship, Jordan Brank Classic
at the Barclays and stuff like that. So I think
once I got injured, it kind of slowed me down
back to reality, to the point to where it's like,
all right, you know you got to lock back in.
You know, you gotta take a day to day. And
that's where I really learned. You know, every single day counts.

(12:14):
You know, it's not about two weeks from now. Whatever
your long term and short term goals are. You gotta
stacked them days in between. So being at UM and
being in Miami it really made me, you know, grow
up in mature a lot faster, and having Coach L
and missus L, who is the wife, just made my
life ten times easier, to say the least.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Did you guys connect on a way that was more
than just basketball?

Speaker 3 (12:38):
By far?

Speaker 2 (12:39):
It felt like it was more than just basketball, you know,
especially when I got injured. The first people I seen
was actually missus L and then Coach L, you know,
and she's like a second mom to me. You know,
she came, she pulled up with a whole bunch of cookies,
a whole bunch of love. Everything's gonna be okay, and
there's nothing like that mother love. So she really made
it ten times easier that.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
Period of time, know you're out. Was did you guys
look at a study other players? You did a lot
of film work right while while your knee was injured.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, I was looking at just a lot of tenacious players,
a lot of defensive players. One of the main people
I was actually watching was d Way, Dwayne Wade, you know,
as far as his athleticism and how he played, and
so we were really honing in on that. But for
the most part, it was the plays, learning the playbook,
knowing who my teammates, you know, we had Bruce Brown.
We had one of my close friends, Chris likes and whatnot.

(13:29):
So just developing a chemistry with them and understand how
we're going to play as a team. And man, it
was it was a great time, to say the least.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
And it was only one year. And I think you
maybe anticipated a bigger role that year with the injury
kind of put you behind, right And you mentioned Bruce Brown,
he gets injured, and then you step in to a
more prominent role with Miami. I know the season ended
a little more abruptly than you guys had wanted that year.
I think you were number one seed, right, you get upset.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
By loyal, loyal Chicago.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
I missed the free throws in my brain for the
rest of my life.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Ah, it's situ with you, right, yeah, but like marsh
madness stuff.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
But you but you had you were You were played
a much greater role towards the end of that year.
How did that set you up now for the NBA draft?

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Man, it set me up a lot.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
I mean, being able to play in the acc against
the Dukes in the North Carolina's and Florida States rather
than playing with them is a lot different, you know,
So I think me just being able to have someone
like coach all allow me to play through my mistakes,
allow me to grow and understand, you know, who I'm
trying to be and what I'm trying to become. I
just made it all much easier. At the end of
the day. Is basketball. I've been playing it my whole life.

(14:41):
So I stayed in the gym. You know, even after
I got injured, I was allowed to get back in
the gym. Same way how I am now. You know,
I let my work ethic, uh determine, you know what
my future hoes.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
And I know a lot of that comes back from
where you came from. We're going to get to that
in a little bit. But you go from Jim Blairnegan
one year at Miami now Greg Popovich in San Antonio?
What was that experience like? And Al it's kind of
the Spurs were, you know, into sort of the rebuild
part when they when they draft you. But what was

(15:13):
that experience like in San Antonio?

Speaker 3 (15:15):
It was a blessing.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
I think as a rookie coming into the league, trying
to learn and understand what a professional is and how
to carry yourself amongst the league and grow and develop
I think I went to the perfect spot, you know,
coach coach Papovich's you know, y'all all know who he
is as far as his accolades and who he is,
and you know what he has done. And I think

(15:37):
being there and being around him allowed me to even
grow even more as far as the mental aspect of
the game and becoming a man. And you know, knowing that, listen,
I got a family to feed and take care of it.
Going over there, it was a complete one eighty from
coach ol to coach pop you know, no curse into
a whole bunch of persons and say the least, but
it was perfect.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
You know.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
I think I learned a lot in the span of
year one to even year four, and I think that's
what allowed me to be who I was with the
Lakers and be professionally ready and always you know, prepared
to play to the best of my capability.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
What was something that that Greg Popovich instilled in your
maybe something that you remember about your time with him.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
Obviously the fundamentals as far as point five and good
to great and whatnot, but you know, one of the
one of the main things he always said was you
owe it to your teammates. You know, as far as
you know, this isn't a one band show. This isn't
a one man show. You know, as far as going
to lift, getting to practice early, shooting, afterwards, shooting before

(16:36):
everything you do, you owe it to your teammates. And
that's something that I've always carried on with myself, because
you know, if you're not being if you're not trying
to play to the best of your capability, and that's
selfish on your aspect as far as trying to elevate
your team and become a winning team to say the least.
So that was really one of the main things we
used to always talk about, is just you know, you
owe it to your teammates to just be your best self.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Zero point five years to me and he would say, right,
I want to either either shoot it, pass it, move it.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, shoot it, passing the drive one of the you
got point five to decide. If it takes longer than that,
you might get taken out.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Was it hard to leave San Antonio? What was the
why do you think you end up leaving that situation?

Speaker 2 (17:17):
I mean, you know they're kind of back to rebuilding,
you know, as far as you know, that was the
year four for me, and then once Dejona Mary kind
of left and went to the to the Hawks, I
kind of understood what was about to present itself, you know,
and I had to figure out where what was next
for for my journey and for my growth.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
And next was Los Angeles to play with the Lakers.
Lebron James, you had a real prominent role early last season,
then an injury. But when you get there, I mean
there's hype, right there's hype that you're playing with Lebron,
You're playing with Anthony Davis, there's a championship caliber team,

(17:55):
and then things Really it was a struggle early on.
Was was it struggle to get through that experience?

Speaker 3 (18:02):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (18:03):
No, not at all. Sometimes you got to figure out
a way to dance in the storm. And I think
that was one of the best things is we weathered it,
you know, and we continued to fight and fight and fight,
and we still made it to the playoffs and one
not and do what we were supposed to do. And
I think that's the best piece of it all, is
still making it to where people thought you weren't gonna
make it.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
You know.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
I love a great underdog story and I love being
part of the underdogs side of things.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
But it's got like you're you're going you're the kid
from reading is going out to play with Lebron James
in LA I mean, was that pinch me kind of
thing for you?

Speaker 3 (18:39):
H for sure?

Speaker 2 (18:40):
Sometimes I still haven't really grasped as far because you
know that's for me. Besides Alan Irison, Lebron was probably
one of the main guys I've always watched him and idolized,
you know, so to be around his his presence and
his or his atmosphere and see what makes him great,
to understand why he made it to the was nine
ten times and whatnot.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
It's evident you're a young guy with him, is it?
Is he like a real person or do you see him?
Is there something just so like a superhero? I mean,
how do you how do you approach being a teammate
of Lebron James.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Man, he's a big baby. He acts like a kid
to say the least, you know, and it's still surprising me.
But when it comes to work and film and studying
the game one of one. I mean when we were
playing you know, Memphis or the Warriors, I mean he
knew every single play. You know when we're at practice,
like we need play over here. Steph likes to be

(19:35):
over here. They're going to do this, that and there,
and you're like, there's no way. And then you play
them and you're like, oh, yeah, you know. So for
for him to be so dialed in and so locked in,
I mean, it shows why he's one of the ghost man.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
And you realize what it takes, yes, right, to get.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
To that and that's the best part you have to
You get to understand what it takes to be at
that level to take it to the next level.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
And uh, he sure showed me.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
You end up getting hurt, and then the team goes
through a kind of a complete changeover with the trade deadline,
and you come back and you sort of don't have
your spot anymore. Eventually you would get it back in
a big spot in the postseason, but when you first
come back and you know you kind of lost, you

(20:22):
kind of lost your role to an injury, which I know,
as an athlete you may not think that's fair or
what you want.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
So how did you get through that period time? I mean,
how I get through everything? You know, it's part of
the game. You can you can only control which you
can control. You know, I wake up grateful, understand it.
It's a new opportunity to reach my best self. So
until then, when things weren't going my way, I just
kept my head down, you know, stayed in the gym
watching what Austin Reeves was doing. That kept on the court,

(20:51):
what made Malik Beasley stay on the court, what made
D'Angel Russell stay on the court, and trying to accommodate
those aspects of the game. So once I get on
the court, you know, I earned my minutes and and
I stayed there. So it wasn't really a knocking ahead
or me being upset about the situation. It's just about growth,
and that's all I can ask for in this in

(21:12):
this thing that we call life, is just trying to
be the best person that I can be.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
But then when they called upon you, always you were ready.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
Yeah right.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
I mean it's interesting you brought up the example of
Clay and Curry before, because that's the series. Now you
get in, they need you, they call on you. You had
a big fourth quarter in that game that puts them
up three to one. Again, talk about pinch me here.
You are the kid from reading our biggest stage in
the Conference finals against the defending Chance you know, well,

(21:41):
the Conference semis against the you know, the champion Warriors.
You've been out of it now, you haven't been in
the rotation, and suddenly you're called upon and you come through.
I mean, afterwards, I would imagine that was a surreal
moment for you.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yeah, one of one of the biggest moments of my life,
to say the least. After the game, I pretty much
sat down on my locker for about an hour and
a half, if not two hours, just you know, embracing
what just happened, you know, just understanding, you know, everything
that happened previously, as far as emotional and mentally and
to withstandard all to weather the storm, to understand you know,

(22:17):
divine time and you know it's all gonna come back around.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Saved my life, you know.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
And I was very excited to just be given the
opportunity because two games prior to that, you know, I
was we were playing like garbage minutes, and I'm like, man,
I'm gonna play the best of my cability. Maybe this
will give someone a sign or show someone maybe we
gotta give him five ten minutes or implement him in
the rotation.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
Somehow.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, that's what those minutes at the end of game sometimes.
I mean we as broadcasters we start talking battle their stuff,
we start doing you know, and you're out there playing hard,
but you kind of value those couple of minutes.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Absolutely, right, Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
And I mean I was in the playoffs my rookie year,
but I didn't get the opportunity to play. So to
be playing against the Warriors, are playing against Memphis and
being in that playoff crowd and that environment, I think
that's something that I'm very addicted to.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
And you know, we're gonna go now back to the
beginning and the whole story. It can almost have like
you coming in there for the Lakers and the playoffs
as like the ending to the movie. But you're only
what twenty four years old, this is You've got a
lot more of your movie that's still come here, and
hopefully the NETS will benefit from that. But let's go

(23:29):
back to reading Pennsylvania where you're from, kid from Redding?
What does that mean to you? That city? What was
what was it like to be from there?

Speaker 2 (23:44):
I mean it's it's a jungle world to say the least.
The league got lines, Bears, Tigers that don't matter. You know,
you decide which animal you are. But it's not something
to play around with, you know. But being back home
or reading, I would say it's magical. You know, it's
a it's a small town. Everyone knows everyone. You probably
know everyone's business, you know who your where your best

(24:05):
friend lives, you probably know where your worst enemy lives.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
You know, but it has its own or about it.
I would say the least.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
You know, I take great pride and where I'm from,
and that's what made me, you know, I mean, this
is the reason why I'm humble. This is the reason
why I'm hungry, educated, smart, you name it. It's because
of Redding and being around so many people, being around
the kids and whatnot.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
You know, I wouldn't change it for anything.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Yeah, I know you still go back.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
Was it?

Speaker 1 (24:33):
Was it a dangerous place? Was it a small town
where people looked out for you?

Speaker 3 (24:38):
How do you?

Speaker 1 (24:39):
I guess it's like you said, it's like you had
to make sure you ended up with the right people.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
Uh, small town, but pretty dangerous.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
You know, you got your areas, you got your north side,
east side and the south side and whatnot. You know,
you just gotta you can choose who your friends are.
You know, you gotta be very careful with your surroundings.
But that's like any place, you know, you're gonna have
your yin and yangs. You're good, you're bad no matter
where you are. So, you know, Reading was just it
was a tough place. It still is a tough place.
I think around seventh eighth grade, we were ranked one

(25:07):
of the poorest cities in the country as far as
growing up and what we had to live by, you know,
so me, my mother, my brothers, we lived day to day.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
We didn't know what tomorrow presented.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
We didn't know where we were going to stay at
the next day, if we were going to be with
friends of eight people already in the house, or friends
of a couple. So I think most people on Redding
we lived to survive.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
We're day to day people.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Your mom, I remember I saw a quote where you said,
she's the strongest person you know in what way?

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Oh, we were practically homeless at one point, you know,
to say the least, and for her to be so strong,
for her to keep a smile on our face and
make it seem like everything was okay even though it wasn't.
Speaks a lot of volumes. You know, there's times where
we had a dollar twenty five. We had this sandwich
at this Getty Mark. It's called a murder burger, and

(25:58):
it was a dollar twenty five bread with soggy was
an Illumini foil. Not the greatest of burger, but it
was amazing. We would split the burger in half. You
get like some dorito nachos, you might put the doritos
in the in the burger and whatnot, and that was
our meal for the day. We'll split a burger, we'll
split a bag of chips that probably cost us a
dollar seventy five and then probably another quarter, if not

(26:19):
fifty cents for a little a treat soda. And that's
what me and my mom Duke shared for the day,
if not two days. So we were surviving and she
made everything in her power to make sure that we
were good.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
That's what you talk about humble beginnings in terms of
becoming in our professional athlete. Your dad, in one part,
did he play in that because I know you guys
maybe didn't. He didn't live with you, didn't live with
yeah your mom, no, not at all, okay, but but
he was still a part of you.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
Oh yes, So my father's kind of what keep me
kept me principally, I guess the principles, you know. I
think having a father figure, especially being a man, you
need someone that you need to look up to. And man,
he he used to work me all the time. He
still does. You know, even after games, he's talking to
me for two three hours of what I should have,
would have could have done, even if it was a
great game. So growing up, I mean before practice, during practice,

(27:14):
after practice, we were working out.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
You know, almost every one of my friends could attest
to this.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
You know, everyone's trying to go play Manhunt or go
go to play five and five on the court, and
my dad has me doing box jumps right next to us.
He's like, he's not playing with y'all until he's done
with these next three hundred box jumps or whatever it
may be.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
You know.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
So he instilled the work ethic as to where I
am now, as far as understanding that. You know, you
can have all the time in the world or no talent,
but a work ethic is always what's going to put
you to that next level.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Is the box jump? What got the leaping ability that
you have?

Speaker 2 (27:46):
I think so because that was my end all, Bill
always box jumps, sorry, box jumps calf hraises.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
You know. We used to have a little whole bunch
of steps.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
So he used to be like, before you get to
your room, you gotta make you have to do at
least ten to twenty five calf raises per step. So
we used to have little increments and little things that
he used to always do that. When I was young,
I'm like, why is he making me do this? This
guy is crazy, you know, and he's always like one
of these days, you're gonna thank me, all right, But
I guess it paid off now, especially.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
When you run it.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
There was a big hill in Reading.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
You used to make it run to the cry Baby Hill.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Cry Baby Hill, yeah, so it was a very.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Steep hill all I think once you once you hit
about ten years old, it was when you had the
courage to ride down it on a bike. But you
would go down so quick since it was so steep
that your eyes with tear up.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
So we called it cry baby Hill.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
But you were running up.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
I was running up the hill a little bit opposite,
so I mean down or up. I think it was
still crying involved, but that's something that for sure pushed me.
You know there's times where you you'll get like halfway
to the hill and you're like, all right, I don't
want to do this no more. And then you hear
my pops in the back, are you already keep going?

Speaker 3 (28:55):
I'm not playing?

Speaker 2 (28:56):
So then you make it and you're like, Okay, it's
not as bad as I thought it was. But to
continuously do it and doing high knees and all these
type of things, my pops really showed me just what
it takes, how much sacrifice it takes to get here.
Well he was a basketball player too, right, Yeah, so
he played out Alvernia University Salvernia College, or it was

(29:16):
Alvernia College before now at Alvernia University had a thousand
points thousand rebounds. So growing up, it was always like, man,
you're your dad. He's this, and he's that, you know,
and we have the same name. So it used to
be oh, that's that's Lonnie's son. And one day he
got mad at me because I was like, what's wrong.
You're not talking to me today? You know, he gave
me the silent trip. He was like, man, I got

(29:38):
all these kids coming here saying, oh that's Lonnie's dad,
you know, so the flip script and.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, when you go from being Lonnie's dad to Lonnie.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
D messed them up. He couldn't get used to it.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
I feel like whenever I see somebody include the junior
in their name or in your case, Lonnie walking up forward,
there's a reverence for the other Lonnie Walker's absolutely before.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
I think that's the one of the best aspects of understanding, uh,
my history, you know, who came previously, what the what
the old Lonnie Walkers were, what they represented.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
You know.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
My grandfather, Lonnie Walker Junior, tried out for the Bill,
so he was an athlete, you know. So I think
it's always been instilled in us to kind of always
be as far as on the athletic side, you know,
play football, play basketball, and being able to talk to
my father about the past, and be able to talk
to my grandfather who passed away about the first Lonnie
Walker and hearing certain things and be like, hmm, I

(30:33):
can relate to that or I kind of see that
personality or that trading me. It's always a blessing, you know.
And I'm big on history, so it's always dope to
you know, learn about my past and who I represent
and you know who made me me.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
Your dad also stressed education. Yes, I know. He would
make you come home and write and do some writing
and things like that.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah, he didn't play no games man. After school. My
routine used to be after school, I would have to
come home.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
I would write for an hour.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
I would do ABC's one, two three for an hour straight,
NonStop writing and cursive lowercase upper cases, and then I
would read for an hour. Then I would have to
tell them what I just read about. Then afterwards we
would go to the park. That's when I do my
box jumps, caf raises sprints. And by that time it
was about five thirty six o'clock and he'd be like,

(31:28):
all right, you have a little bit of friends and
friendship time. You got to be home by the time
the street lights come on. So I would really only
have ten minutes of you know, playing time with my friends.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
But I mean it was worth it.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
But it seemed like this structure is what you needed
to get out of a place.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Absolutely, because Redding, you know, there's not much there to
say the least, you know, and a lot of people,
especially kids growing up, you know, we are attracted to
what our surroundings are. So if our friends are doing
things of X, Y and z, we might want to
be involved with that or not even that, you know,
just the way of living. Not most kids have money

(32:09):
as far as you know living, you know, availability and
eating and whatnot. So a lot of kids thirteen fourteen
got to find a way to get it. How they
get it, I guess you can say, and that might
involve going into the streets or doing things at that
nature and growing up at a younger age because we
don't have nothing else and we're just fighting to survive.
So it's for sure a lot of adversity in Redding,

(32:33):
but I mean once you get past that that hump,
I don't think anyone can stop us.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
But despite all that, your attitude has always been very
positive and upbeat. And it's a lot to deal with
and you're able to get through it and be that
kind of person and positive I would have met. I
know you have a foundation, a lot of walker foundation,
and you just built a corp right there is a
bear park, yes.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
You say it.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
I mean that's the place right where you would play
and now you just paid for renovation. I mean that's
a full circle moment.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
That's got to be very very, very very emotional. Yeah,
that's for sure. Touches my heart.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Even the few days going into opening up the court,
I mean I couldn't sleep because I just couldn't believe that.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
You know, I was in that predicament A nice too.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
I saw a picture, yeah Instagram.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Yes, growing up, that was Donyelle Marshall's court. Okay, so yeah,
so he was. I'm from the North Side. He's from
like the North Glenside area, so he kind of like
rent rented out that same area back in the day.
So growing up, I was always motivated and inspired to
do that, you know, understanding how big of a deal
it was.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
I remember growing up, we had Chad Henny.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
He was a football player from Wilson and he did
one of our parts in Redding and it was an
amazing time.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
I mean I was about nine, ten years old.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
And for me to still remember this, you know, shows
how important it was to me, and to see all
the kids and see everyone at this new park and
see you know, the feeling. I remember how it felt
and to feel inspired. I mean, that was something that
I've always dreamed of doing.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
I just think about those kids that are now going
to go to that park.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
Oh yeah it was.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
I came back the next day and it was completely packed.
We had about thirty forty kids, a whole bunch of kids,
uh waiting to play the next games and whatnot. And uh,
it was a very nostalgic moment because it brought back
memories when I was younger, and you know, the courts
was jam packed and there's kids waiting on who got next,
and you're figuring out who's part of your team and
who you don't want on your team and whatnot.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
So maybe it wasn't as nice. I mean, the court
court is beautiful. It's beautiful now, yes, sir, thank you
so much. What other things you start to do, Like, so,
not everybody's going to be six ' four with the
jumping ability you have and the basketball ability you have.
So when you go back to talk to kids that
are in reading right now that maybe will never have
that opportunity to be a star basketball player, what do

(34:57):
you try to impart on them to make something themselves
coming from the background that you know they're dealing.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
With, just trying to reach your higher self, reach your
best self, whether if it's it doesn't involve sports. It
could be being a teacher, being a doctor, being a lawyer,
being a generator, doesn't matter. But I always try and
try to instill that, you know, academics is priority one,
but every single day just trying to be a better
person than what you were yesterday, you know, rather if

(35:24):
it's reading, learning something new, and just you know, just
overall growth.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
So when I go back home.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
And I see the kids and I try and inspire
and talk to them, we always talk about school being
a priority because that's what takes you to the next level.
But continuously just growing, you know, reading books. What can
I do today that will make me a better person yesterday?
Is there something that I can help out? Is there
I seen a homeless person today? Is there a ways
for me to help him out and give back? You know,

(35:51):
just bigger picture things, and you know, understanding that, you
know the world doesn't just evolve around us.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
You know, it's for everybody.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Let's move forward a little bit now and maybe a
little bit of the past. We always used to see
you with the trademark hair, you know, it was all
the way growing up. We used to you know, we
would comment and say, you know, six ' four six '
ten with the hairdo you know kind of thing a
couple of years ago, you you cut it all off
and you revealed why you did it, why you grew

(36:26):
your hair the way you did, and then why you
cut it off. Can you did you share that story?

Speaker 2 (36:33):
You know, so growing up I have a lot of things,
you know that kind of made me who I was
and whatnot. But you know, growing up I was sexually
assaulted and there was a point of time where I
didn't really know much about anything else besides just just that.

Speaker 3 (36:48):
So I grew my hair up.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
You know, I wanted to feel like I had some
type of ownership in my life or some type of
something that I can call mind how old were you
between seven attends about three years and just had my hair,
you know, that's what I used to always touch it,
I used to always play with it. Kept me saying
to say the least, And you know, I think that's
what really helped me out, you know, helped me disguise

(37:11):
a lot of things, helped me, you know, get by
even sometimes even if I wasn't the happiest person in
the world.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
But you know, it really groomed me.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
To be as humble as I am to say at least,
you know, everything kind of has slowed down, and you know,
once I kind of hit a point where I was
reaching a new chapter in my life, I decided to
cut it. You know, understanding, you know, the past is
the past, and me knowing the bigger picture, which is
knowing that I'm not the only one. And I think
me voicing my story, me telling others what happened, would help,

(37:44):
whether it was one person or a thousand people. And
I think that's you know, what catapulted me into cutting
my hair. You know, it's understanding that, you know, I'm
entering a new chapter, a new a new a new
moment in my life. But there's so many other people
that need to hear this, that can relate to this,
that can understand that, you know, there's light at the
end of the tunnel. And honestly, as much as I

(38:05):
thought I was helping others, it helped me out tenfold,
you know, hearing the abundant the amount of people that
you know showed love and hey, I've been through this
before and I understand and thank you for this. That
and the third you know it it was something that
I was terrified to speak on but once I got
to speak on it and understand that I'm not the

(38:26):
only one, it made my life so much easier. But
to see other people's life at ease or just made
it ten times better.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
The hair was symbolic because it kind of did you
feel like it was almost like a costume you wore
to hide absolutely going on.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
You know, I think it was a It was a
lot of everything, honestly, a costume with disguise, you name it.
But over time it became its own entity. Once I
went to Miami, it got locked up and turned into
whatever it turned into.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
And I think that gave me a little bit of mojo.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Though you know, at first it was to disguise myself,
but as I got older, it gave me confidence. It
gave me, you know, my swagger. It gave me who
I was. When people thought of Lonnie, they thought of
me with the hair. And then you know, you go
on to draft day where I had the floating hat
and whatnot and things of that nature.

Speaker 3 (39:19):
So it didn't really become a disguise.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Once I came into the league, it became just who
I was, what I represented as far as you know,
having your own swag and your own confidence in your
own aura. So it transitions in a plentiful of different ways.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Was it symbolic in a way that when you cut
it off, it was like I don't need that anymore.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yes, So I think that was one of the most
important moments. Was people always ask, you know, are you
gonna ever cut your hair? And I just be like, ah,
not really, because I had such a deep bond with
it as far as my past and understanding what it
really was more than people really understood. So once I
got it cut, it felt like weight off my back

(39:59):
more than I thought, you know, all the pressure and
all the random animosity or anger that I would have
or fumes. It kind of just felt like it just
I cut it off, and it's like, all right, the
passes of the past, you're entering a new room, you're
nswering a new part of your life, and me cutting
my hair really elevated me to even another level of
that I wasn't even ready for as far as the
mental aspect and just being ready for anything.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
Was there anything specific that happened that made you finally
make the decision come forward, use this courage and come
forward and talk about it and then cut the hair,
and is there anything specific or any one person, I.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Would say my grandmom.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
You know, there's usually like a point of time where
I kind of have flashbacks or whatever you can say,
you know, where I'm not in the greatest of moods.
And my grandma was one of the few people that
you know, talk to me and calmed me down and
let me see a completely different perspective that I never
got to see. And she used to always say, you know,

(40:59):
you're a beacon in life, you know, and being able
to spread your messages and help others.

Speaker 3 (41:03):
And I was really ready to.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Cut my hair, to say the least, besides you know,
the past traumas, and you know, I was sleeping down
there in the middle of my bed with my feet
dangling just because my hair was so long. So it
was hitting a point where I was ready to cut it.
But it was hard for me to cut it. And
my grandmom kind of helped me out as far as understanding, like,
when you cut this, the message that you're gonna spread

(41:26):
and the people that are that are going to receive
this is gonna be more than you can understand. And
I'm huge on bigger picture and you know, helping out others,
so I understood what was at hand. You know, my
Grandmam really helped me like lock in and understand, like
I'm ready to cut this, you know, I'm ready to
get past that. I'm ready to not think about it,
move on and talk about and talk about it going on. Yeah,

(41:48):
And through it all I found internal peace and internal
happiness within myself.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
I just relate to in a sense, it's it's kind
of apples to oranges. But I went through a similar
situation in terms of I had a disease, I have
a muscular dystrophe, and for so long there was a
time where I still was trying to outrun the wheelchair.
And about four years ago I started using one, and
I was it was this thing when even even before that,

(42:14):
when I started a foundation, it was this idea of
telling people knowing that maybe it can help somebody, but
also how much it does help yourself. It's a weight off, right,
So it's just a similar situation that I'm thinking of.
But also there was the fear of well, when I do,
you know, get into a wheelchair and show the and
now approach the world from that perspective, how am I

(42:35):
going to be viewed how am I going to be judged?
So I would imagine that was a similar situation when
I come and tell this story that had to be
your biggest fear for years, somebody would find out, right
and when they do, what was that experience like for you?
Out of the world act to you?

Speaker 2 (42:52):
I mean, I received an immense amount of love, especially
from a lot of people that were in the same
predicament as me, and to see that, I mean, that's
what's worth while. I think the hardest thing for me was,
you know, my family didn't really know too much. You know,
my father and mother didn't really know too much. So
that was kind of like a hard transition.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
But seem to be so much a part of your
life and this was still happening under their nose.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
So for them to you know, not know it, it
hurt them. But you know, for them to find out
now and see who I am, and you know, it's
like all right. I mean, it's it's bad, but we're
happy that you got over it for yourself and for
everyone else. And I think that the end all be
all is just you know, as much as I thought
I was helping others, man, it helped me so much more.

(43:35):
You know, it really elevated myself, my life, who I was,
you know, just as far as you know, just a
breath of fresh air. You know, all the fans, all
the people that came and showed love and supported me
as much as I was, just trying to support them
and let them know that you know, you're not the
only one.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
I think the highway just went both ways.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
I loved our conversation. I know you got to go,
and hopefully we do this another time. Some of the
other things I wanted to talk to you about, like
sitting in the like the stuff you did for animals,
sitting in the car with dogs and then you're getting
hot in the car, and there's all kinds of stuff
like that. Before you go, Before I let you go.
It seems like your motto would be very similar to

(44:16):
remember Jim Valvano's speech with the s Beast never give up.
Yeah right, he was going through cancer everything. You know,
he talked about what it takes to get through that
kind of situation, never give up, and you know everybody
should laugh cry think so just look, you seem like
a jovial guy.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
I'm a movie guy.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yeah, what's the movie that made you laugh the most.
You go to to make you laugh.

Speaker 2 (44:40):
To make me laugh the most. Man, that's a hard one,
you know, it's funny. I was just watching A Death
at a Funeral with Martin Lawrence. Yeah, it's classic. Yes,
that's one of the most.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
Mind that's like his favorite comedy.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
Oh my god, it is hilarious.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
I was watching it yesterday and I'm trying to go
to sleep, but I kept like opening like one eye,
just chuckling a little bit.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
A favorite artist? What about artists?

Speaker 2 (45:07):
I'm an oldso so I listened to a lot of
old school music. So I listened to like Teddy Pendergrass,
Luther vandros Anita Baker. I mean, the list goes on
and all. So those are my favorite artists. But my
favorite artists overall probably j Cole. Okay, that's like my
player too.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
Yeah, I love that though.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
Nice nice spectrum.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
Then yeah, finally, there was this oculous outside Barkley Center,
big message board that anyone walking up from the subway,
walking around the city can see coming into the arena.
If there's a message you can put up there for
everyone to read and see that you want them to know,
what would it be as far as let's say, let's
say your message to h to NET fans, you're coming out,

(45:50):
You're coming to Brooklyn right now. They want to know
about Monnie Walker.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
What you want them to think about Candlestaler.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
You know I can not play for two months too,
but just know you're going to get a great player
all in, all, through and.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
Through Canpdbell stays lit? Yes, I love that it's Donnie Walker.
Great yet to know you, thank you so much showing us, Matt.
If you didn't know a lot about Lonnie Walker prior
to listening to this, I'm sure that you're rooting for
the guy like I am. So really looking forward to

(46:25):
having Lonnie Walker the Fourth be a part of the Nets.
Interesting he brought up Anita Baker. I love A need
a Baker. It's got to be one of my all
time favorite R and B artists. Soul artists. Used to
see her at Detroit Pistons games. I remember being excited
to see her. I think the playoff game. She did

(46:46):
an anthem one time national anthem. The album fairy Tales
one of my favorite R and B albums of all time.
Rapture another great album, giving you the best that I
got great stuff Minita Baker. One album that I'm into lately.
It came out late last year and then he added

(47:10):
to it this year that that would love to tell
people about is an album called stick Season by Noah Khan.
And the reason I bring it up now is, you know,
it's very few albums that I've ever listened to where
it's almost like there is a setting that it inhabits.
Noah Khan is from Vermont, and the album revolves around

(47:33):
being a young person with kind of a conflicted outlook
on where he comes from, a place that obviously he's
tied to, but also runs from a little bit. You know,
I think about what Lonnie Walker went through and what's
got to be kind of a conflicting relationship with the
town of Reading, Pennsylvania. That's what this album is about,

(47:58):
but it really inhabits that space. It's called stick Season
by Noah Kahn. Stick Season referring to a time up
north in New England when all the leaves have fallen
from the trees. It's kind of a bleak time, you know,
the weather's terrible. Everybody thinks of New England in the fall,
with the leaves and the colors and the summertime in

(48:18):
the spring where it's lush, but those times where it's
kind of desolate and lonely and the weather's miserable. Really
an interesting album and I really enjoy it, and I
enjoyed it before he added these like extra six songs
and put it out this summer. They fit with the record,

(48:39):
So stick Season by Noah Khn. You got to get
the extended thing where you got the new songs on
it as well. So that's my listening recommendation along with
Anita Baker. My thanks to Lonnie Walker, my thanks to
our engineer Isaac Lee, and our producer Steve Goldberg. Again, hopefully,
if you've enjoyed this, you'll leave us a nice rating
five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, leave us a review,

(49:04):
please subscribe, We really would appreciate it. Mike, thanks to
you all. I'm Chris Carino. Thank you so much for
tuning in to the voice of the Nets.