The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of things to after this season and one of them is addressing the future of head coach Luke Walton. With the purple and gold squad going through the motions of finishing the current NBA season, heads will roll and that may include the 38-year-old mentor.
For the record, Walton should not be blamed for all of it. When he joined the Lakers back in 2016, he inherited a team that was on rebuild mode. He had to work with the rising young stars at the time. Some are still around while others have moved on. The entry of LeBron James would have eased the burden but it takes more than one player to push a team farther down an NBA season.
Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Rob Pelinka are now part of management and Laker fans were hoping to at least see the team make the NBA playoffs. No thanks to that botched Anthony Davis trade, everything backfired with the Lakers falling short of making the postseason wars.
Hence, the blame game has started and Walton has not been spared. Celebrities and well-known personalities have come out to call for a new head coach, most happening when the Lakers fell to the lowly Phoenix Suns recently.
Johnson remains clueless on what lies ahead for the Lakers and Walton. Regardless, he claims that has a head coach in mind and that this person is currently the head coach of an existing NBA team. It would be best to note that this is a precautionary measure in the event that Walton is fired, Stephen A. Smith said on ESPN's First Take.
The decision on the future of Walton may actually fall in the hands of the Lakers great or even Pelinka. Jeanie Buss had already mentioned that he is happy with Walton although the final verdict may depend on how top management deliberates on the matter. This is one of the things Los Angeles will need to address aside from next year's roster for the 2019-20 NBA wars.
Should Walton be given the boot, expect other teams to go after him, Lakers Nation said. He has proven that he can lead a team if it has the right mix of players to field during games. It is a messy predicament for the Lakers and change is imminent. The only question now is will the Lakers give up on Walton already even if they are partly to blame for their fortunes the past NBA seasons.
