Fifth year forward Luke Walton on Basketball Without Borders, upcoming season

Fifth year Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Walton, who recently made the transition of signing a contract with the team, has expressed his relief of finally belonging fully to the NBA squad in an interview with NBA media, in which he called being a free agent “nerve wracking” because he ultimately knew that LA was where he wanted to stay.
“I don’t think the contract changes my role much,” Walton said. “We agreed on a contract because they like what I do and what I bring to the table. Obviously I’m still working out, working on my game, and trying to get better. I’ll keep doing the things I do well to help the team win. As far as personally, it takes a lot of stress off you. When you’re playing in a free agent year you get worried about every time you have a bad game and it starts messing with your head. Now I know I still have to perform, but now I just go out there and do what I need to do. It’s nice to have the security of knowing that I’ll be here in LA and playing for this team that I want to play for.”

Walton participated in the Basketball Without Borders program for the third consecutive year this summer and said he plans to volunteer his time each year from now on to the educational workshop, which helps youth in many different countries learn basketball skills at instructional camps and also teaches them life lessons. This year’s program was held in San Paulo, Brazil, and through sponsorship was able to donate twenty computers, a library, and two full-court basketball facilities to an under priviledged neighborhood in the city. Walton, joined by several others, visited children in the hospital and spent a day at the Special Olympics.

As Walton prepares to jump into the season, he hopes to become more of an intricate part of the team, he said. “I think the first couple years you learn how to play at this level,” Walton said. “You apply your game and the more you play the more you become a leader and the more the younger kids look to you for information and for leadership. So I’ll definitely make it more of a point to be a leader out there this year.”

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