every morning before Ronnie Walker IV Report to one of the biggest pressure cookers in all of professional sports.The Los Angeles Lakers team is determined to atone for last season’s disaster and save Dusk. lebron jamesCareer – He meditates with mantras.
“Dominate your day.”
Perched high in Beverly Hills, this 23-year-old home has a sanctuary charm. Surrounded by lush gardens, the backyard pool offers breathtaking views and stretches across nearly all of LA.
But he starts his days by looking inward.
He got out of bed and found refuge in the corner of his upstairs bedroom, where he spent 20 minutes resetting his operating system. He breathes in through his nose for 4 seconds and out through his mouth for 4 seconds.
inside and out.
dominate the day.
inside and out.
dominate the day.
The message infuses confidence and urgency, says Walker. “It’s time to unplug and really talk to your subconscious,” says the unassuming shooting guard. “I’m just trying to reconnect my body and mind.”
it’s working. Walker has career-best numbers in scoring (16.9 points per game), his goal percentage on the field (47.1), free throw percentage (83.7) and his marks on defense (0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks per game). out.
Back in the corner of the bedroom, he sits with his back to the wall. His legs are stretched forward, and light is dripping into the room from the back window. He takes a whiteboard from his armchair and places it in front of him. The board is filled with whiteboard scribbles in blue, red, and green ink that record his short-term and long-term goals. It’s been five years since he started his NBA career. His first four years he spent under the guidance of Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs after he was the 18th overall pick in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft.
He scans for long term goals. The most improved player.
A short-term goal, he says, is something you want to achieve in a few months. Conference player of the week. starter.
Short-term goals? Since signing a one-year, $6.5 million contract with LA in the offseason, he hopes to show a strong performance in his first game in San Antonio (Friday at 8 p.m.).
“There’s a book I was reading,” says Walker. “It said that every day there is a chance to be 1% better. And who are we really reaching as individuals?”
HE double dip In his meditation on game day.
He began practicing in high school many years ago with sports psychologist Dr. Rick Neff, who now directs the exercise program at Villanova University. A basketball prodigy in Reading, Pennsylvania, a small city an hour northwest of the city, Dr. Neff helped get him noticed.
“He was one of the greatest people in my life,” says Walker. “As long as you truly understand the power of your subconscious mind, how strong it is, and what you can do with it.”
Walker adds a 15-minute in-arena session to refocus before tip-off, completing it in a private space he can find. It’s the time from when he shows his skills on the court to when coach Durbin Hamm speaks to the team.
At the Crypto.com arena, his hideout is an auxiliary locker room down the hall from the Lakers’ exclusive club. The gray-walled room is undecorated, and the music from the public address system above the court is muffled. Normally used to visit his NHL coaches, but left empty on NBA nights, Walker parked in his one of the wooden cubicles to the right of the entrance, Close your eyes.
“I really feel like that’s one of the main reasons I’m playing so well,” he says. “It really changed my state of mind and maturity for that court. When I’m done and I walk into the locker room, I feel like a different person. This isn’t Ronnie anymore. This is , “It’s time to play.” This other team has no friends. “
It is a mental training that has become more powerful thanks to its tremendous physical ability.
“From day one, he’s been a great athlete. He’s got a talent that a lot of players don’t have in that,” Popovich said before the Spurs played against the Lakers on Sunday. “He always relied solely on his athleticism. It was silly compared to others. But now, as he gets older, he understands the mental side of the game better and it’s how he plays. can see
His play has been consistent with his routine, scoring in double figures in 11 of his 14 starts, including 25 or more in three of them. In his 208 games with the Spurs, he reached his 25-point plateau only his fifth time.
“I think his confidence is over the roof. This kid is phenomenal,” Hamm said. “I have great trust and faith in him.”
that belief, and Three levels of scoring in the same brand of perimeter defense and offense means his name could be sewn onto the back of the Lakers’ jerseys next season and beyond.
LA only has a deal around $92 million next season, but with a projected salary cap of $134 million, there’s plenty of room for Walker if he continues to help the Lakers win. He averaged 18.7 points on his 52.5% shooting (46.7% from his 3rd in his recent three-game winning streak in LA).
“I’ve been here for a year,” says Walker. “I want to be here as long as possible. So what do I have to do to get there? I am there.”
last season, Malik Monk He played a similar role in a similar deal with the Lakers, but he left to sign a two-year, $19.4 million contract with the Sacramento Kings, with LA unable to offer anything more than a mid-level exception. , eventually went to Walker.
“He bridged the gap of being another guy we could rely on to score basketball.” Anthony Davis told ESPN. “Score a lot and keep learning and reading the game as the season progresses.”
Before boarding a private charter of bookends for a three-game road trip where the Lakers wrap up Thanksgiving with a game in Phoenix and a back-to-back game in San Antonio, Walker sat at home and set out his own way for the six-day journey. was preparing for He picks up his phone and walks to the whiteboard in his bedroom. He takes pictures of his goals that he writes for himself to remind him of where he is and where he wants to go.
When the team moved from a temporary home in Arizona to a hotel in Texas, Walker found paper and pen on his desk in his room, opened a whiteboard photo of his trip back to Beverly Hills, and recreated the list.
long term goals.
short term goals.
Then return to the wall, stretch your legs, and close your eyes.
“Once I’ve written down everything I have from that whiteboard, I put it in my pocket,” says Walker. “It touches me, words, everything goes through my body and then I meditate.”
Another chance to be 1% better.
Breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds. Exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds. inside and out. inside and out. inside and out.
dominate the day.
