When he last appeared, Lonnie Walker IV was emerging as a useful piece to a competitive Nets team that was on the rise.
The Nets won three straight games against the Heat, Bulls, and Raptors to get over .500, and Walker quickly established himself as a candidate for Sixth Man of the Year.
Then, during a loss to the Hornets on November 30, he felt his hamstring tighten, a condition known as a strain, and was forced to sit on the bench for the next 17 games.
More than five weeks later, Walker returned to the team on a completely different trajectory.
The Nets were just 6-11 without him, including dropping 10 of 12 in Friday's stunning 124-115 victory over the Thunder at Barclays Center. Ta.
The Nets' offense and defense fell apart, and suddenly they were only clinging to the play-in spot.
Walker, who played six minutes without a goal on Friday, said he feels “good” now and hopes to fill the role the team has been missing. But yes, the team's struggles made it even harder to miss.
“Absolutely. I just love winning,” Walker said at a morning shootaround before his return. “This game is something I've been playing my whole life. … You're part of an organization, you've got brothers and teammates – it doesn't matter if you're one leg or one foot in. If you have the opportunity to play, I'm going to do my best on that court.
“So, I'm really happy to be back. I'm happy to be back. I'm ready to get through the war with my teammates.”
Before the hamstring interrupted his season (and helped his team do so), the sixth-year pro and first-year netter was playing the best basketball of his career.
Walker is averaging 14.6 points in just 21.3 minutes per game, ranking fourth in the entire NBA entering Friday, including shooting 46.3 percent from deep, and is a key player in the Nets' second unit. It symbolized an immediate attack.
Before Walker's injury, the Nets were averaging 116 points per game.
After that, their performance dropped to 112.5 per game. That includes a disastrous team-wide funk over the past two weeks that threatened to derail a season that once looked promising.
“We haven't been winning, so it's good to have that spark again,” Mikal Bridges said of Walker. “Overall, just his presence [has been missed]. … Exactly what he does there is bring energy and play well offensively and defensively. ”
Walker's biggest contribution is on offense, where he is a rare shot creator on a team with many 3-and-D players.
The 25-year-old was able to find lanes and beat on-ball defenders and entered the play with an offensive rating of 119.5, the best on the team among players who played at least 11 games.
His game has a bit of overlap with that of Cam Thomas, who has developed into the Nets' microwave scorer (off the bench or in the starting unit) since Walker went down.
It will be interesting to see how head coach Jacque Vaughn works with these two, especially since Thomas was recently demoted to the second unit.
This will likely be an issue for another day, as Walker will be limited to one minute in his first few games after his return.
“He has the athleticism to go downhill and win one-on-one battles, and interestingly, his ability to kick out also gives him open threes,” Vaughn said. . “And you have a guy who can guard multiple positions on the defensive end of the floor. So, we missed him.”
Walker doesn't want to dwell on the negative aspects of his time away, either for himself or the team.
He hopes that by sitting out more than a month in the middle of the season, he will be well rested for the rest of the season.
“It's a blessing in disguise to have some recovery and recovery,” Walker said, “so it means we'll be ready for the entire season.”
