Last fall, Boston Celtics fans were all in on Lonnie Walker IV, as the sharpshooting wing caught an invite to Celtics training camp to compete for a roster spot. Boston wound up waiving him ahead of opening night, and he later finished the season with the Philadelphia 76ers.
A little under one year later, Walker is headed to Israel to join Maccabi Tel Aviv in the EuroLeague, according to NBA Insider Marc Stein. The free agent forward becomes one of Europe’s highest-paid players with this move, which will reportedly gross him $10 million over three seasons, per Donatas Urbonas.
Lonnie Walker IV's three-year deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv is valued at approximately $10 million gross, according to @Urbodo 😲
— BasketNews (@BasketNews_com) July 24, 2025
More details: https://t.co/chX3nY6rRH pic.twitter.com/F5ISk7wy3n
Walker will join Oshae Brissett, a member of the 2024 NBA Champion Celtics team, who inked a deal to join the same club earlier this month.
In 20 games for the Sixers last year, Walker averaged 12.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per outing while shooting 42% from the field and 35.4% from long range.
He wasn’t as impressive with the Celtics during the preseason. He struggled to fit in an off-ball role, which would’ve been the only way for him to stick with the team. The ball would always find Walker and then have a hard time getting away from him during his limited playing time in early October 2024.
Lonnie Walker wasn't ever going to be a great fit with the Celtics
Even with the glaring fit issues, Celtics fans were still disappointed when news broke of the team parting ways with the Pennsylvania native. First and foremost, he and Baylor Scheierman were the only new players on Boston’s 15-man roster heading into the year, after the team brought back just about everyone from the prior season’s championship team. There’s something about the unknown that just gets the people going.
In fairness to the fans, it was more than just that. There had been plenty of buzz surrounding Walker after his impressive shooting in the 2023-24 campaign.
Before heading to Boston on the camp invite, Walker shined during a one-year stint with the Brooklyn Nets.
Most notably, he shot 38.4% from three. That number was a bit inflated, though. He was red hot from beyond the arc in 34 games leading up to the All-Star break, knocking down 43.3% of his triples, then significantly cooled off once he and the Nets returned to action, drilling just 30.8% of his attempts from long-range in the remaining 24 games.
Walker is clearly more comfortable when the ball is in his hands, too. Fortunately, this new opportunity in the EuroLeague should allow him to take on a role better fit for him.