In his first season with the struggling Lakers, Lonnie Walker IV, 23, is averaging career highs in minutes, points, field goal percentage, blocks and steals. Said coach Darvin Ham: "I just have a huge amount of trust and belief in him." Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images
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He meditates every morning before he reports to the Los Angeles Lakers, who are determined to atone for last season's disaster and save their careers.

Don't waste the day.

The young woman's home is located in an elevated neighborhood in Beverly Hills. He has a backyard pool that spans out to practically all of L.A. and it is surrounded by lush, green gardens.

He starts his day by looking in the opposite direction.

He wakes up in the middle of the night in a corner of his second floor bedroom, where he reset his operating system for 20 minutes. He had to breathe in and out of his mouth at the same time.

They were in and out.

Don't let the day go by without you.

They were in and out.

Don't let the day go by without you.

Walker says that the message makes people feel confident and urgent. The shooting guard says it's a good time to relax and talk to your mind. I'm trying to get my mind and body back together.

The thing is working. Walker is putting up career-best numbers in a number of categories.

In the corner of his bedroom, he sits with his back against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him with a window behind him. He put the whiteboard in front of him by taking it out of the armchair and putting it in front of him. The board has dry-erases written in blue, red and green ink that document his short and long term goals. The first four years of his NBA career were spent in San Antonio under the guidance of Popovich.

He looks at a long term goal. The most improved player.

A short-term goal is something he wants to accomplish in a short period of time. Player of the week from the conference. The starting point.

Is that a longer-term goal? He wants to have a good showing in his first game in San Antonio. Signed a one-year, $6.5 million deal with L.A.

Walker was reading a book. You have the chance to get one percent better. Let's get a little bit better. I have a fascination with what I can do. What can I do to make a difference in this man's life?

He meditates on game day.

He worked with a sports psychologist in high school who is now the athletic director at a university. Walker was a basketball player in Reading, Pennsylvania, a small city an hour's drive northwest from Philadelphia, and Dr.

Walker says that he was one of the best people he had ever met. Understanding how strong the subconscious mind is and how you can use it to your advantage is important.

Walker adds an additional 15 minutes to his in-arena session to focus on the game. After his on-court skills work, there is a period of time before Darvin Ham addresses the team.

An auxiliary locker room is located down the hall from the Lakers' luxurious digs. The public address system above the court is loud and the room is gray. It's normally used by visiting NHL coaches, but not on NBA nights, so Walker parked himself on one of the cubicles near the entrance and closed his eyes.

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He feels that is one of the main reasons he is playing so well. It has made me a better person going onto that court. I feel like a different person when I walk into the locker room after I've left. It's time to play, that's what this is. I have no friends on this other team.

Thanks to physical ability, it's a mental discipline that's more potent.

He was a good athlete from the beginning. Before the Spurs played the Lakers on Sunday, Popovich said that he has gifts that other players don't have. It was so ridiculous that he depended on his athletic ability so much. He can see the mental side of the game in his play now that he knows more about it.

He's scored in double digits in 11 of the 14 games in which he's started, including three of them with at least 25 points. He only reached the 25-point mark five times.

He is confident through the roof. The kid is amazing. I have a lot of faith in him.

His name could be on the back of a Laker jersey in the future because of the same brand of perimeter defense and three-level scoring on offense.

L.A. only has $92 million in contracts committed for next season, when the salary cap is projected to be $134 million, plenty of room to keep Walker if he continues to help the Lakers win.

Walker is here for a year. I want to be here for as long as possible. I don't know what I have to do to get there. Being disciplined, being engaged and just stacking the days will get me there.

On Friday, December 2nd.

Lakers-Bucks, 7:30 p.m.

Bulls-Warriors, 10 p.m.

On Wednesday, December 7th.

Hawks-Knicks, 7:30 p.m.

Celtics-Suns, 10 p.m.

It's all times Eastern.

Monk left the Lakers to sign a two-year, $19.4 million deal with the Kings because L.A. couldn't offer more than the midlevel exception.

Anthony Davis said that he fills the void of being another guy that the team can rely on to score. As the season goes on, score in bunches and try to learn as much as possible.

Before the Lakers boarded their private charter for their three-game road trip bookending Thanksgiving with a game in Phoenix and then the back-to-back in San Antonio, Walker sat at home. He grabbed his phone and walked to the whiteboard. He takes a picture of the goals he's written for himself, to remind him of where he wants to be.

When the team moved from its temporary home in Arizona to its hotel in Texas, Walker found a pen and paper at his desk and a photo of his whiteboard in Beverly Hills, which he recreated in his room.

Goal for a long time.

A short-term goal

The legs are stretched out and the eyes are closed.

Walker says that after he's done writing everything on the whiteboard onto the paper, he puts it in his pocket. Everything goes through my body, and then I meditate.

There's another chance to be better.

He needs to breathe in for four seconds. He needs to breathe out of his mouth. They were in and out. They were in and out. They were in and out.

Don't let the day go by without you.