Set to begin his NBA career after being drafted 18th overall by the San Antonio Spurs, it hasn’t taken long for former Miami guard Lonnie Walker IV to already make a difference.
While Walker IV will undoubtedly make an impact on the court for the Spurs his rookie season, he has already begun his work off of it. According to Reading Eagle’s Mike Drago, Walker IV and Adidas will donate 300 pairs of shoes to his hometown Reading Blacktop Basketball League in Pennsylvania.
Walker, who signed an endorsement deal with shoemaker Adidas before being drafted last month by the San Antonio Spurs, has teamed with another former Red Knight, Eric Wise, to deliver 300 pairs of shoes to Reading’s Blacktop Basketball League.
Wise, an executive at Adidas, got the ball rolling months before Walker was drafted.
The link in helping their shared hometown was a natural, and Blacktop officials soon will begin distributing more than $30,000 worth of shoes to local players.
As pointed out, Eric Wise was one of the reasons this all happened as an executive with Adidas, the shoe company Walker IV signed with prior to the 2018 NBA Draft.
Wise and Blacktop’s Executive Director Veronica Brown both had kind words to say for the 19-year-old rookie and his gracious donation.
“What Adidas and Lonnie are doing, it’s amazing,” said Veronica Brown, Blacktop’s executive director. “It’s awesome.”
“It’s a cool thing to have an executive at Adidas like myself and Lonnie be an Adidas athlete, and both of us from Reading,” said Wise, who played football and basketball at Reading High before graduating in 1996. “I would love to use this to show kids that there are multiple ways to be successful in and outside sports.”
Lonnie Walker IV is only one of the latest signees to a talent-packed Adidas roster. Walker IV has already made his mark off the court in his hometown of Reading, PA and is set to explode onto the scene in his inaugural campaign with San Antonio.
