Luke Walton will become the Lakers head coach. They’ve quickly found their replacement.
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The Lakers reached an agreement Friday night with the Golden State assistant to become their head coach, dramatically choosing a leader for their new era after Kobe Bryant.
Walton is a triangle disciple, familiar with the offense in which he spent seven years when Phil Jackson coached the Lakers. “Currently, he is one of the brightest young coaches in the game”.
Looking around the league at the salaries of his head coaching counterparts, Walton seems to fall directly in the middle of the pack, making the same salary as Chicago Bulls’ head coach, Fred Hoiberg, and even his mentor, Golden State Warriors’ coach, Steve Kerr. However, that award was in large part due to the culture Kerr helped create that allowed for Walton to guide the Warriors to a 39-4 start while Kerr recovered from back surgery.
At Kerr’s Tuesday press conference for NBA Coach of the Year, Myers looked at Walton and said, “This guy deserves a lot of credit, too”. Byron Scott was recently fired after two seasons in the head coaching position, and now the Lakers are looking at who will replace him.
“My priority is the Warriors, these players and winning a championship right now”, Walton said. “We are certainly going to miss Luke after we conclude our playoff runs this season, but we wish him the very best with the Lakers”.
Los Angeles Lakers’ hunt for a new coach has finally come to an end. Originally selected with the 32 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, he was a member of championship teams with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010.
Walton coached on Kerr’s staff for two seasons.
The Lakers’ future appears to be in the hands of youngsters, D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle.
After his playing career ended in 2013, he worked briefly for the Lakers’ television network as a broadcaster, and for their D-League team as a player development coach.
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When Kerr was unable to coach the team at the beginning of the 2015/2016 season due to a debilitating back issue, Walton coached the team on an interim basis leading them to a historic start on their way to a record setting 73 wins.
