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“Previous history popping up in my head and it sucked mentally. ‘Demons’… Because of this virus, I began to truly look at myself in the mirror and see who I truly was, even behind closed doors. Long story short I have found peace and internal happiness through this journey, God willingly. I forgave everyone, even the people that don’t deserve it. “Time doesn’t wait on anyone so why should I waste my time on it?
Lonnie Walker IV’s trademark hair was a ‘disguise’ he bravely shed before his Nets arrival
When San Antonio Spurs guard Lonnie Walker IV cut his signature hairstyle this week, he was parting with more than just several inches off the top. Walker said he was attempting to free himself of painful memories. Walker is not the only Spurs player to display personal vulnerability about mental health.
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My hair was a mask of me hiding the insecurity's that I felt the world wasn't ready for. "The real truth as to why I started doing this early 5th grade, it was a cloaking device for me," Walker wrote in the caption of his post. "During the summer of my 5th grade year I was around more family. Some that names will be left alone I was around more. I was sexually harassed, raped, abused, I even got accustomed to it because being at that age you don’t know what is what. In the video, as friends react to Walker's hair being cut off, the Spurs guard details his hair history from middle school through college.
Lonnie Walker IV
The second-year San Antonio Spurs shooting guard posted a video to his Instagram of a barber buzzing off his "pineapple" hairstyle, which Walker had been growing out since he was in fifth grade. The 21-year-old also debuted his new, close-shaved look, but it was his explanation of the motivation behind his fresh cut that shocked the NBA world. In his second season, Walker averaged 5.6 points and 2.2 rebounds, producing his most memorable outing on Dec. 3 against the Houston Rockets when he scored a career-high 28 points off the bench, including 19 in the fourth quarter to lead a comeback victory.
The moment he got here, he instantly connected with the fans and community of San Antonio, and everyday it gets harder not to love him even more. It’s hard to imagine there wasn’t a single Spurs fan already rooting for him to succeed, but now it’s impossible not to. He has always felt like a Spur-for-life, and hopefully this is the beginning of an amazing new journey for him.
San Antonio Spurs (2018–
Ninth and 10th grade, I would trim it, the sides, trim the top. In the 12th grade, I started taking these really hard advanced, chemistry [classes], AP, physics and everything. Whenever I had a hard test the next day, I always started to twist up my hair. Promising young Spurs guard Lonnie Walker IV surprised a lot of people when he cut off his signature pineapple haircut that he had been growing out since fifth grade. Now, he’s explaining why he grew out his hair in the first place — and subsequently cut it — and it’s a much more sobering story than his huge, perpetual smile would lead you to believe. More to the point, with the Nets finishing with a record, all of the finalists’ teams finished with at least 46 wins and were at worst in the play-in tournament.
"Because of this virus, I began to truly look at myself in the mirror and see who I truly was even behind closed doors," Walker wrote. "Long story short I have found peace and internal happiness through this journey." Walker’s new haircut features a curved part etched into the front and a cross shaved into the back where his fade starts to blend. In the video posted with Walker’s revelation, the guard is sitting down for the new style and a large clump of hair tumbles once hit with a pair of clippers. Walker discusses his various iterations of hairstyles over the years, as images superimposed to his hair serve as visual aids in telling the story. “The real truth as to why I started doing this early 5th grade, it was a cloaking device for me,” Walker wrote in the Instagram post.
Spurs’ Lonnie Walker, a Pa. hoops icon, uses haircut to open up about sexual abuse in childhood - PennLive
Spurs’ Lonnie Walker, a Pa. hoops icon, uses haircut to open up about sexual abuse in childhood.
Posted: Fri, 12 Jun 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Walker’s agent, George Langberg said that the second-year guard out of Miami has had a weight lifted off his shoulder. He ends the post saying he is in a better mental space but is continuing to grow through it and encourages others to try to do the same. “I was sexually harassed, raped, abused,” Walker states later. Gotta play with the cards you're dealt with, and try and make a winning hand. It can’t possibly have been easy sharing this kind of devastating story to the public, but his courage in doing so — and the inner peace and strength he’s hopefully found in the process — should be applauded and appreciated.
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But in the text that accompanied the clip, he revealed that he started concentrating on his hair even earlier — and he revealed why. On Sunday, the NBA announced on social media via its “X” account all of the finalists for the regular-season awards with the playoffs beginning this past weekend. While it was not surprising, Nets guard Lonnie Walker IV was not among the finalists for the Sixth Man of the Year award. Before Game 3, he had played all of 28 minutes combined in eight playoff games.
Some [of their] names will be left alone I was around more. Walker played in 58 games last season, all of which as a reserve. As the Nets look to re-tool the roster, he would be a quality depth piece to keep on the roster. With that in mind, Brooklyn shouldn’t overpay for his services if there’s other teams that inflate his market value with interest and offers. Many sad descriptors accompanied Lonnie Walker IV onto the Crypto.com Arena court at the start of the fourth quarter Monday night, but by the time the game ended, the building was shaking with a new and different one. The Spurs have had celebrated draft picks, costly draft picks, and picks that puzzled at the time, but they’ve never drafted a player as follicularly audacious as Lonnie Walker IV.
After all, the man’s hairstyle made his traditional post-pick team-hat photo op look like he’d found a way to make his cap levitate. "Previous history popping up in my head and it sucked mentally. 'Demons'... Because of this virus, I began to truly look at myself in the mirror and see who I truly was, even behind closed doors. The 21-year-old began growing his hair in the 5th grade, which has now become known as “the pineapple” in the NBA. He shared the emotional moment of cutting his hair on IG Live. For one of the newest Nets, his most difficult challenge was finally deciding to open up about the sexual abuse he had survived as a child from the age of 7 to 10. It was cutting off the hair he had grown as a coping mechanism and making a statement he thought would help others out who had endured similar horrors.
Spurs' Lonnie Walker IV used hairstyles as 'cloaking device' to battle childhood sexual abuse - USA TODAY
Spurs' Lonnie Walker IV used hairstyles as 'cloaking device' to battle childhood sexual abuse.
Posted: Fri, 12 Jun 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]
"This is something that Lonnie has been dealing with for some time now," Langberg wrote. The second-year guard ended his post by saying he would be stepping away from social media while wishing everyone "peace, love and happiness." Walker's agent, George Langberg, said in a statement posted on Twitter that this has been a long journey for his client. "The real truth as to why I started doing this early 5th grade, it was a cloaking device for me," Walker wrote in the caption.
On the night he was selected 18th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft, he went viral on social media after his hat wouldn't fully fit on his head when he went up to shake commissioner Adam Silver's hand. He's become easily recognizable because of his hair over the years, but the decision to cut it off came because, as Walker writes in the caption, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on him mentally. However, this was about more than just getting a summer cut before the San Antonio Spurs head to Orlando to finish out the rest of the season in July. Thursday evening, Walker revealed on his Instagram that he began to grow out his hair when he was in the fifth grade as a coping mechanism after being sexually abused as a child. The video accompanying the post shows Walker covering his face with his right hand as a chunk of hair is being shaved off by a barber's clippers. Then Walker's voice can be heard narrating his hair history with corresponding images, from a small mohawk in seventh grade, to dying the mohawk red in eighth grade, to cutting it into a flat top in ninth grade and so on.
This week, the shooting guard parted ways with his signature look and took the opportunity to tell those fans the deeply emotional story of just what was behind it. Walker’s agent, George Langberg, released a statement Thursday night addressing his client’s post. Walker, 21, explained in an Instagram post Thursday that he decided to grow out his hair as an adolescent in an attempt to create what he called “a cloaking device” to shield the pain of suffering sexual abuse as a child.
Also, Walker’s play during the second half of the season did not match how he began the year, partly because of a hamstring injury that cost him 17 games. The second-year guard out of the University of Miami finished his post by wishing peace, love and happiness to his followers and saying he would be taking a break from Instagram for a while. "The real truth as to why I started doing this early 5th grade, it was a cloaking device for me," Walker wrote in the caption, accompanying a video of him describing his hairstyles over the years. "During the summer of my 5th grade year I was around more family. Some [whose] names will be left alone I was around more. “The real truth as to why I started doing this early 5th grade, it was a cloaking device for me,” Walker wrote in the caption, accompanying a video describing his hairstyles over the years.
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