Perspective: Luke Walton’s loyalty was no match for the Lakers’ dysfunction that consumed him
Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton was fired after posting a 98-148 record and failing to reach the playoffs during his three-year tenure. By Ben Golliver Ben Golliver NBA reporter Email Bio Follow National NBA Writer April 13 at 4:48 PM LOS ANGELES — For a few magical weeks in the fall, Luke Walton’s Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most intriguing basketball experiments in recent memory.
“I have the best job in the world,” Walton declared in October, when that phrase didn’t yet sound patently ludicrous. The 39-year-old had good reasons to believe his own spiel: He had won titles as a Lakers player, he was groomed for his second career by former Lakers coach Phil Jackson, he was given his first head coaching job by Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, and now James, arguably the best player in basketball, had fallen into his lap.
James’s groin injury changed the trajectory of the Lakers’ season, of course, but it also pulled back the curtain on two things: how little talent Walton had at his disposal and how anxious the organization’s leaders were to find a scapegoat. Walton departs with a 98-148 record in three years, and his tenure had its share of warts. His relationships with former Lakers D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle were rocky at times, his pace-obsessed, small-ball vision for this year’s roster proved unsustainable, and critics in coaching circles questioned his rotations and management of late-game situations.
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