What's fueling Lonnie Walker IV's surge with the Lakers

EVERY MORNING, BEFORE Lonnie Walker IV reports to 1 of the biggest unit cookers successful each of pro sports -- a Los Angeles Lakers squad determined to atone for past season's catastrophe and salvage the twilight of LeBron James' vocation -- helium meditates with a mantra.

"Dominate the day."

There's a sanctuary-like entreaty to the 23-year-old's location nestled successful an elevated vicinity successful Beverly Hills. It is surrounded by lush, greenish gardens with a breathtaking presumption from his backyard excavation that spans retired to practically each of L.A.

But helium begins his days by looking inward.

He rises retired of furniture and finds refuge successful a country of his second-floor bedroom, wherever helium dedicates 20 minutes resetting his operating system. Breathing successful done his chemoreceptor for 4 seconds and retired of his rima for 4 seconds.

In and out.

Dominate the day.

In and out.

Dominate the day.

The message, Walker says, imbues assurance and urgency. "It's conscionable a clip to unplug and truly speech to your subconscious mind," the reserved shooting defender says. "Just trying to get my assemblage and my caput reconnected."

It's working. Walker is putting up career-best numbers successful scoring (16.9 points per game), tract extremity percent (47.1), escaped propulsion percent (83.7) and antiaircraft marks (0.9 steals; 0.5 blocks per game).

Back successful the country of his bedroom, helium sits with his backmost against the wall, legs stretched retired successful beforehand of him with a model down him trickling airy into the room. He takes a whiteboard from the armchair it rests connected and places it successful beforehand of him. The committee is filled with dry-erase scribbles successful blue, reddish and greenish ink that papers his short- and semipermanent goals. He's 5 years into his NBA career, the archetypal 4 of which were spent nether the tutelage of Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs aft being selected No. 18 successful the archetypal circular of the 2018 NBA draft.

He scans a semipermanent goal. Most Improved Player.

A short-term goal, helium says, is thing helium wants to execute successful a substance of months. Conference subordinate of the week. Starter.

An adjacent shorter-term goal? Wanting to person a beardown showing successful his archetypal crippled backmost successful San Antonio (Friday, 8 p.m. ET) since signing a one-year, $6.5 cardinal woody with L.A. successful the offseason.

"There's a publication I was reading," Walker says. "It said each time you person the accidental to get 1 percent better. So let's get 1 percent better. So that means I ever person a fascination with what I tin become. What antheral tin I genuinely scope arsenic an idiosyncratic successful this lifetime?"

HE DOUBLE-DIPS with his meditation connected crippled days.

He picked up the signifier years agone successful precocious schoolhouse moving with Dr. Rick Neff, a sports scientist who present guides Villanova University's diversion programs. Walker was a hoops phenom successful Reading, Pennsylvania -- a tiny metropolis an hour's thrust northwest from Philadelphia -- and Dr. Neff helped him navigate the attention.

"He was 1 of the top radical to travel into my life," Walker says. "As acold arsenic truly knowing the powerfulness of the subconscious caput and knowing however beardown it is and the capabilities that you tin bash with it."

Walker adds an further 15-minute in-arena league to refocus earlier tipoff that helium completes successful immoderate backstage abstraction helium tin find. It's a model of clip aft his on-court skills enactment and earlier manager Darvin Ham addresses the team.

At Crypto.com Arena, his refuge is an auxiliary locker country down the hallway from the Lakers' luxury digs. The gray-walled country is unadorned and the euphony blasting from the nationalist code strategy supra the tribunal is muffled. It's usually utilized by visiting NHL coaches, but near bare connected NBA nights, truthful Walker parks himself connected 1 of the woody cubicles adjacent the close broadside of the entranceway and closes his eyes.

"I truly consciousness similar that's 1 of the main reasons I'm playing truthful well," helium says. "It has genuinely transformed my intelligence authorities and my maturity level going onto that court. Once I'm done and I permission and I locomotion into the locker room, I consciousness similar a antithetic person. This ain't Lonnie nary more, this is, 'It's clip to play.' I ain't got nary friends connected this different team."

It's a intelligence subject made much potent acknowledgment to tremendous carnal ability.

"From Day 1, helium was a large athlete. He's got gifts that a batch of players don't person successful that regard," said Popovich earlier the Spurs played the Lakers connected Sunday, the archetypal of 3 games the teams volition play each different successful a span of 7 days. "He ever depended conscionable connected that diversion ability, it was truthful ridiculous compared to different people. But present helium understands much the intelligence broadside of the crippled with each twelvemonth that passes, and you tin spot that successful his play."

His play has been accordant arsenic his routines, scoring successful treble digits successful 11 of the 14 games successful which he's started -- including 3 of them with 25 points oregon more. In 208 games with the Spurs, helium reached the 25-point plateau conscionable 5 times.

"I deliberation his assurance is done the roof. The kid is phenomenal," Ham said. "I conscionable person a immense magnitude of spot and content successful him."

THAT BELIEF, AND the aforesaid marque of perimeter defence and three-level scoring connected offense, means his sanction could beryllium stitched connected the backmost of a Laker jersey adjacent play -- and beyond.

L.A. lone has astir $92 cardinal successful contracts committed for adjacent season, erstwhile the wage headdress is projected to beryllium $134 million, plentifulness of abstraction to support Walker if helium continues to assistance the Lakers triumph -- helium averaged 18.7 points connected 52.5% shooting (46.7% from 3) during L.A.'s caller three-game winning streak.

"I'm present for 1 year," Walker says. "I would emotion to beryllium present for arsenic agelong arsenic I can. So what bash I person to bash to get to that point? Being disciplined, being engaged and conscionable stacking the days and being the champion I tin beryllium is thing that's going to get maine there."

Last season, Malik Monk played a akin relation for the Lakers connected a akin contract, but helium near to motion a two-year, $19.4 cardinal woody with the Sacramento Kings with L.A. incapable to connection much than the midlevel exception, which yet went to Walker.

"He's benignant of filled that void of being different feline that we tin thin connected to people the basketball," Anthony Davis told ESPN. "Score successful bunches and conscionable perpetually effort to larn and work the crippled arsenic the play goes on."

Before the Lakers boarded their backstage charter for their three-game roadworthy travel bookending Thanksgiving with a crippled successful Phoenix and past the back-to-back successful San Antonio, Walker sat astatine home, preparing successful his ain unsocial mode for the six-day journey. He grabs his telephone and walks to the whiteboard successful his bedroom. He snaps a photograph of the goals he's written for himself, a reminder of wherever helium is and wherever helium wants to be.

As the squad bounced from its impermanent location successful Arizona to its edifice successful Texas, Walker finds a pad of insubstantial and pen astatine the desks successful his rooms, opens up the photograph of his whiteboard backmost successful Beverly Hills and recreates the list.

Long-term goal.

Short-term goal.

Then, it's backmost to the wall, legs stretched out, eyes closed.

"Once I'm done penning everything that I person from that whiteboard onto the paper, I enactment it successful my pocket," Walker says. "It touches me, the words, everything is going done my body, and past I meditate."

Another accidental to beryllium 1% better.

Breathe successful done his chemoreceptor for 4 seconds. Breathe retired of his rima for 4 seconds. In and out. In and out. In and out.

Dominate the day.