Luke Walton finds himself in the hot seat with most believing that a head coaching change over in Los Angeles will do the Lakers well. Regardless, team owner Jeanie Buss feels otherwise and remains confident that the 38-year-old is the right guy for the job.
Walton was recently spotted at the LAX by TMZ Sports and the former Laker obliged to an interview. He revealed that he is aware of the calls for a head coaching change, particularly ones coming from the camp of NBA star LeBron James.
As most know, James’ is a key figure when it comes to team changes. He has yet to speak on the status of Walton although the current Lakers head coach reveals that there is no friction of whatsoever between them.
"LeBron and I get along just fine,” said Walton
Of course, Walton’s response is far from closing the book on the real score of Walton with the Lakers. Seeing however that Walton has had to make do with a young core the past years needs to be included compared to when another former Los Angeles Laker, Byron Scott, called the shots.
So far, Walton has slowly improved on the Lakers’ win-loss record. Los Angeles is on course to perhaps its best record since the 2013-14 NBA season (27-55) before Walton came in. They are also likely to improve on last season’s record of 35-47 since they already tote a 28-29 record in the NBA Western Conference as of this writing.
However, the question is when will the Lakers make the NBA playoffs. The last time they did it was way back during the 2012-13 NBA season when they caught the 7th slot to the postseason wars. They were eliminated in the first round via sweep (4-0) by the San Antonio Spurs.
Walton’s tenure is in close watch and how far the Lakers go this season could factor in. Even with LeBron James coming in this NBA season, the King has barely gotten the proper support to help the Lakers rise to the top. Making matters even worse is the fact that he has been beset by injuries, the Athletic reported.
Regardless of these circumstances, Walton is keeping everything close to his chest. This includes rants of a coaching change – something he does not want to address for now.
From the looks of it, Walton is handling the situation well and shunning away from controversies. Heading into the NBA homestretch and depending on how the Lakers finish this season, expect a ton of criticism to head the 38-year-old’s way.
