Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
The Los Angeles Lakers announced Friday that they and head coach Luke Walton mutually agreed to part ways.
General manager Rob Pelinka said the following regarding the decision: “We would like to thank Luke for his dedicated service over the last three years. We wish Luke and his family the best of luck moving forward.”
Walton also commented on the move, saying, “I want to thank Jeanie Buss and the Buss family for giving me the opportunity to coach the Lakers. This franchise and the city will always be special to me and my family.”
The move came after L.A. finished a disappointing 37-45 this season and following Magic Johnson’s stunning decision to step down as the Lakers’ president of basketball operations on Tuesday.
In three seasons as L.A.’s head coach, Walton went 98-148.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported Ty Lue and Monty Williams are among the top candidates to replace Walton.
His dismissal comes on the heels of ESPN.com’s Jackie MacMullan intimating in January that LeBron James’ camp wasn’t fond of Walton during an appearance on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast.
“It’s clear to me, and probably to you, Brian, that LeBron’s camp would prefer a coaching change—they’re not too subtle about that,” MacMullan said. “Not LeBron, but all the people around LeBron. There’s plenty of them and they’ve made it known. I don’t think this is a shock, is it?”
Shortly after that news surfaced, Walton was reportedly involved in an “emotionally-charged verbal exchange” with several of the team’s veteran players following a loss to the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 2, according to The Athletic and Stadium’s Shams Charania.
Things didn’t get any prettier as the Lakers missed the postseason—marking the first time James missed the playoffs since the 2004-05 season.
Walton was hired by the Lakers prior to the 2016-17 season after he emerged as one of the league’s premier young minds on Steve Kerr’s staff with the Golden State Warriors.
At the time, the move seemed like a perfect match.
The Lakers were in need of a fresh face who would be willing to see the team’s rebuild through, and Walton fit the bill as an upstart who had championship experience dating back to his time with Golden State.
With expectations tempered, the Lakers’ fledgling group of youngsters sputtered to a 26-56 finish during Walton’s first year on the bench and a 35-47 record during the 2017-18 season after Lonzo Ball was added with the No. 2 overall pick.
However, the dynamic changed in a big way when James committed to the Lakers in free agency.
L.A. was immediately thrust into the playoff conversation, and although title aspirations remained something of a pipe dream, it wasn’t farfetched to think the Lakers could challenge for one of the Western Conference’s higher seeds.
Still, president of basketball operations Magic Johnson tempered talk of a hot start and publicly admitted the team would likely experience its fair share of growing pains.
“As I was talking to Luke [with GM Rob Pelinka], we said don’t worry about if we get out to a bad start,” Johnson said at the start of training camp, per ESPN.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “We have seen that with LeBron [James] going to Miami, and we have seen that when he came back to Cleveland. He is going to struggle because there are so many new moving parts. But eventually we are going to get it, and we are going to be really a good team.”
Johnson’s tone reportedly changed seven games into the regular season.
According to ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin, Johnson “admonished” Walton in a meeting after the Lakers dropped consecutive road games against San Antonio and Minnesota, and the discussion “elevated an already acute awareness within the Lakers coaching staff that there are intense and immediate pressures on Walton to deliver the franchise a winner in short order.”
What’s more: The Athletic’s Sam Amick cited coaching sources who said Walton was “the most likely to feel his seat grow warm if there’s an extended Lakers losing streak” as the team sputtered in the lead-up to its Christmas Day clash with the Warriors.
Evidently, that foresight proved spot on.
The Lakers stumbled down the stretch and missed the playoffs for the sixth straight season, and James’ groin injury only complicated matters.
As a result, the Lakers will have to hope they can identify the right coach to lead James and Co. back to the postseason, with former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue and Miami Heat assistant Juwan Howard among the early names circulating as potential fits for the gig.
As for Walton, Sam Amick of USA Today reported that the Sacramento Kings are interested in potentially hiring him as their next head coach.
from Viral News Updates http://bit.ly/2UMV1Hz
0 Comments