5 things to know about new Celtics guard Lonnie Walker

The Celtics on Wednesday signed veteran guard Lonnie Walker IV to a one-year contract.

Walker spent the first four seasons of his career with the Spurs before joining the Lakers in 2022-23 and the Nets in 2023-24.

Here are five things to know about him.

He’s a former first-round pick.

Walker spent just one season at the University of Miami before declaring for the 2018 NBA Draft, where the Spurs took him with the 18th pick.

He spent four seasons in San Antonio, appearing in 208 games (56 starts). By his final Spurs season he had carved out a regular role, averaging a career-high 12.1 points per game in 2021-22.

He’ll have to compete for a spot on the roster.

Walker’s roster spot is far from guaranteed. In an interview with the Globe earlier this month, Celtics president of basketball operation Brad Stevens suggested he would likely sign a few players to Exhibit 10 deals to determine how to use the final roster spot.

“We’re just going to monitor the health of our team and see how everybody’s doing, and if there’s any issues that arise between now and September that we need to really address, then we might use it,” Stevens said. “But right now I’d say it’s unlikely. We’re still looking to sign a couple of Exhibit-10s that their most likely path will be to play in Maine. But we’ll see.”

As part of the non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal, if Walker is waived he would receive a $77,500 bonus if he agrees to join the Celtics’ G League affiliate in Maine.

His first collegiate start was against Boston University.

In his senior year at Reading High School in Pennsylvania, Walker was a McDonald’s All-American and was named Mr. Pennsylvania Basketball. He averaged 18.4 points per game and helped Reading win a state championship.

After coming off the bench in his first few games at Miami, Walker made his first start against BU on Dec. 5, 2017, scoring a team-high 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting. The Hurricanes won, 69-54. Walker finished the season averaging 11.5 points per game and was named to the ACC all-freshman team.

He enjoys reading.

Find Walker in the locker room before a game and you’ll likely see his nose buried in a book. Reading began as something his father required him to do for at least an hour every day after school, but it has now become part of his routine, according to the San Antonio Express-News. As a kid, he wasn’t a fan. But these days, it’s a different story.

“It’s relaxing and dials me in for the game, helps me get focused, get to my zone,” he told the Express-News in 2020.

As of 2021, he was looking to read books similar to Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” or Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War.”

Since beginning his NBA career in 2018, Walker has spent time in his hometown of Reading, Pa., hosting basketball camps through The Lonnie Walker IV Foundation. His foundation has also hosted Thanksgiving turkey drives, a community gala, winter coat drives, and other philanthropic endeavors in his hometown, as well as in San Antonio and Los Angeles.

In 2019, Reading mayor Eddie Moran presented Walker with the key to the city after Walker hosted a basketball camp at his former high school. According to his bio on Engage, a talent-booking platform, Walker hopes to one day be elected Reading’s mayor.