EL SEGUNDO — From his neck to his ankles, 6-foot-4 Lonnie Walker IV strolled through the Lakers’ practice facility in purple velvet. The suit, he said, was actually one he owned before the Lakers made him one of their newest players, and he wore it in part because he didn’t have a lot of clean outfits left.

When he realized he was wearing the color of the team he had just signed with, Walker let out a bemused chuckle: “It kind of just manifested itself, I guess.”

Even though huge questions remain for the Lakers’ offseason, the supporting cast has begun to manifest, too. Walker was one of five new free agent signings – also including Troy Brown Jr., Damian Jones, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Thomas Bryant – to walk the halls of the team’s El Segundo headquarters on Wednesday, getting a feel for what their new home will be like.

Around them, there are rumblings of change. The Lakers are still widely considered a frontrunner to land Kyrie Irving, the 30-year-old Brooklyn Nets point guard, and potentially send out Russell Westbrook after one disappointing season. But whichever stars they’re playing around, the incoming crop of free agents are expected to bring the same traits: speed, defense and shooting.

All five talked at length about their conversations with new coach Darvin Ham, who is expected to run a more up-tempo system to try to improve on a team that finished in the bottom third of the NBA in both defensive and offensive rating last season. The common themes were that all of them expected to be attentive on the defensive end first.

If the players have any particular overlap, it might just be coming in with something to prove. Juan Toscano-Anderson is coming off a three-year run with his hometown team Golden State – days after basking in a championship parade, he signed with the Lakers on a minimum deal and nothing short of confidence that he can help this franchise take the same leap.

“I think I can fit on any team,” he said. “I think I can guard one through five. I’ll do whatever it takes to win, and when I say whatever, I mean it. I’ll dive over scorer’s tables. I’ll rebound. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

The Lakers were one of the faster-paced teams in the league last season, but faltered especially getting back on defense: They gave up the second-most fast-break points per game last season (15.0 ppg). That’s a big reason the front office went young, now with 10 players on the roster under 30.

It’s less clear how well the new crop can space the floor for the premier players. Of the newcomers, Brown shot the highest percentage (35.3%) on 3-point attempts last season. All five, even the big men, expect that spacing at the perimeter figures into their roles next season. Walker had one of the most underwhelming shooting seasons last year, hitting just 31.4% from behind the arc in San Antonio, but fitting in as many as three workouts a day this offseason, he expects to see some rapid improvement.

“Last year, you can look at the percentages, but I kid you not: Leave me open, we’re going to see what’s happening,” Walker said. “I’m honing into what I got to get better on, and I’m not just strengthening my weakness but I’m strengthening my strengths as well. So, I’m ready to show everyone what I’m about.”

Not everyone was strutting about the building for the first time: Center Damian Jones returned after an eight-game stint on 10-day contracts in 2021, when he was 16 for 17 from the field and quickly won over some fans. He spent last season with the Sacramento Kings, where he came on late in the season to average a career-best 8.1 points and 4.4 rebounds.

Bryant came back for the first time since 2018, when he was unceremoniously waived by the Lakers for a final roster spot. Since then, he’s played four seasons with the Washington Wizards, marred only by a January 2021 ACL tear that he said felt “100% great – not good; great” as of this summer.

Even though being cut was a tough lesson that Bryant, 24, acknowledged as a significant obstacle in his path, the 6-10 center was all smiles as he reintroduced himself to all of the people he met as a rookie during the 2017-18 season.

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“To be honest, I never even knew that door was still open,” he said. “It’s just super surreal to be back and just for the Lakers organization to want me back, it does a really good deal of self-confidence for me and just going forward in my career.”

As the Lakers well know, the season needs to start to play out before they can pump their fist at their offseason haul. But as far as egos are concerned, the new group set their expectations low: Unlike offseasons past, no one claimed a starting job, for instance. At least for one day, they stuck to the company line: The Lakers’ success will be driven by the stars more than the supporting cast.

But after a few years of playing alongside Steph Curry, Toscano-Anderson knows the most important thing for these role players will be to step up when needed – an area where the Lakers struggled last season.

“I think it’s up to the rest of us to support them, have their back every day,” he said. “Eighty-two games, it’s a long season. We can’t just count on those guys to go out and win games for us every day. Now, can we count on them to put us in position to win games? Of course. Can we lean on them? Of course. But at some point, they have to be able to lean on us.”

Lonnie Walker says he’s owned this purple suit since before he signed with the Lakers, and wore this today because it was one of his few clean outfits. When it was pointed out that he wore purple to his first visit to the Lakers, laughs: “I guess you could say it manifested.” pic.twitter.com/L0HvAJPkln

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) July 6, 2022