Lonnie Walker IV is returning to the NBA, agreeing to a one-year, $3.3 million deal with the Denver Nuggets after a season in the EuroLeague with Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he averaged 15.2 points and 2.5 rebounds on a lucrative multiyear contract.
He and Maccabi reached a separation agreement this week to allow him to pursue the NBA opportunity. He last played in the league with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2024-25, averaging 12.4 points across what was his most recent NBA stint. The guard is entering his eighth professional season and has averaged 10 points per game across his NBA career, which began when San Antonio selected him with a first-round pick in 2018 out of the University of Miami.
He spent his first four seasons with the Spurs before moving through several organizations, including the 76ers last year, before heading overseas.
What Walker brings to Denver
The Nuggets are building out a wing group that lost Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Miami Heat in free agency and may also be losing Peyton Watson, a restricted free agent whose situation remains unresolved. Walker provides scoring depth that can help offset those departures, particularly off the bench in a rotation that needs perimeter scoring around the team’s core.
Denver has also signed Alpha Diallo, the EuroLeague Defender of the Year, and Marvin Bagley III while retaining guard Tyus Jones and restricted free agent Spencer Jones. The offseason additions are designed to fill different needs in the rotation, with Walker’s scoring complementing what Diallo brings defensively.
The Nuggets are currently the only team in the NBA’s second apron, the most restrictive tier of the league’s collective bargaining agreement tax structure, which limits some of the roster-building tools available to the franchise. Operating from that position makes finding value on the margins of the roster more important, and a player returning from a productive EuroLeague season at a veteran’s minimum-adjacent number represents the kind of efficient acquisition that second-apron teams need.
The Watson situation
Peyton Watson’s status with the Nuggets remains one of the more active roster situations in the league. Denver is in trade discussions with several teams about a potential Watson sign-and-trade that would bring back value while helping him reach the long-term deal he is seeking. The Cavaliers, Bucks and Clippers have been among the teams involved in those conversations.
Watson also holds a qualifying offer that, if he accepts it, would make him an unrestricted free agent the following summer. That option gives him leverage in the current negotiations and gives the Nuggets an incentive to resolve his situation before the season rather than potentially losing him for nothing.
Walker’s arrival gives Denver roster flexibility as it works through that process. A backcourt and wing group that includes Walker, Alpha Diallo, Spencer Jones and Tyus Jones alongside the team’s core would give the Nuggets a functional rotation even if Watson ultimately departs.
Walker’s path back to the NBA
His detour through Maccabi Tel Aviv is an increasingly common arc for NBA players who find themselves between contracts or looking for regular playing time that can rebuild market value. His numbers in the EuroLeague, 15.2 points on a per-game basis in one of European basketball’s most competitive leagues, suggest he maintained his scoring ability during the time overseas.
The Nuggets are betting that a player who averaged double figures in both his NBA and EuroLeague seasons can contribute meaningfully to a team that has been built around Nikola Jokic and has made deep playoff runs in recent years. For Walker, the deal offers a path back to the league he was drafted into with a team that still has championship ambitions.
