After years of chasing, the Nuggets finally ink Lonnie Walker IV

If this name sounds familiar, it should — the Denver Nuggets have a lot of history with Lonnie Walker IV, both in playing against him and trying to get him on their roster.

In November 2024, I wrote here that the Nuggets were linked to Walker, then a 26-year-old former first-round pick playing in Lithuania whose buyout was available for an NBA team willing to pounce. Denver’s bench was the worst in the league at the time. Walker felt like the obvious fix. The Nuggets never pulled the trigger — and the 76ers swooped in, signing Walker to finish the season in Philadelphia.

Two years and a stint in the Middle East later, the Nuggets finally got the former Miami Hurricane.

Walker has agreed to a one-year, $3.3 million deal with Denver, his agent George S. Langberg of GSL Sports Group told ESPN’s Shams Charania. The 27-year-old guard enters his eighth NBA season after spending 2025-26 with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the EuroLeague and Israeli Premier League.

This may be the answer Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace have been looking for all summer, when they circled ball handling to start the offseason.

It’s been a primary issue for Denver since the last time Walker played in the playoffs (we’ll get back to that). It seemed like it may go unaddressed with the Nuggets roster already at 14 players counting Peyton Watson. Tim Hardaway Jr. left. Jalen Pickett left. Bruce Brown appears to be out. The second unit’s lead ball handlers going into the afternoon were Tyus Jones and Julian Strawther — players who were Denver’s third string backcourt last year.

Walker adds something, what at this point in his career is hard to say. But he’s a 6-foot-4 shooting guard, who is solid with the rock. The 18th pick in the 2018 draft, he spent four seasons with San Antonio and had a strong run with the Lakers in 2022-23, when he averaged 11.7 points and hit some massive shots in the playoffs — including all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter of a Game 4 win over Golden State.

But we know how that year ended for Walker, a four-game sweep of the Lakers by the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. It’s actually the second time he lost to Denver in a playoff series in his career, getting minutes in the seven-game Nuggets win over the Spurs in 2019.

Since the sweep of the Lakers, where Walker was played off the floor in the end, his career has taken a detour. He spent a year with the Nets, a training camp with the Celtics (who wanted to keep him but couldn’t for salary reasons), a stint in Lithuania, 20 games back in Philly during the 2024-25 season where he averaged 12.4 points in 24 minutes, and then a full year in Israel.

Across 60 games between Žalgiris and Maccabi over two seasons, Walker averaged 14.8 points and shot 35.7% from deep. But he was better for Maccabi this past year where he blistered shooting-wise in the Israeli league.

Walker is not a perfect player, heck he’s not even a perfect fill for his main job. His handle and decision-making have been inconsistent throughout his career. He can be a shot-selection adventure. He’s not the lockdown defender the Nuggets have targeted with other additions like Alpha Diallo or their draft picks. But he’s brings athleticism Denver lacks. And he can pour it in from the bench on his best days, putting the ball on the floor and creating — something no one else on Denver’s second unit can reliably do right now and something they lost a lot of when Hardaway Jr. left. Though it is curious how this may impact Strawther moving forward.

While the $3.3 million might not seem like a lot it is a real commitment if he’s indeed the 15th man. His contract will cost the Nuggets a lot more money than that, given how deep the team is into the repeat luxury tax. But it does show the Nuggets are again being serious, as they were when they matched the Thunder’s offer for Jones. Denver isn’t taking the cheap way out, at least yet, we’ll see what they do with Watson there.

The Nuggets’ offseason additions now include Marvin Bagley III, Diallo, Walker and picks Trevon Brazile and Bryce Hopkins. The offseason still hinges on Watson but now we have one more answer than we did earlier on Wednesday. As for two of Denver’s five additions coming from Europe, it’s either a smart bet on overlooked players or a risky mistake on 15% of the roster.

But Denver lands Walker — late, maybe — and he could still make an impact.

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