LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 20: Head coach Luke Walton on the sidelines during the Lakers’ home opener against the Houston Rockets at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 20, 2018. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets 124-115. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
The Los Angeles Lakers have been eliminated from the playoffs, and the rumors are swirling. But Luke Walton isn’t worried about the noise.
The Los Angeles Lakers are currently 33-42 and have been eliminated from the playoff race. LeBron James isn’t playing both ends of back-to-backs, and a handful of guys that spent most of the season in the G-League are getting heavy minutes now.
Just about everything that could have gone wrong for the Lakers this season did, and now there are questions about whether or not head coach Luke Walton is going to be coaching the Lakers next season.
According to Bill Oram of The Athletic, Walton fully expects to be coaching the Lakers next season.
Walton coaching the team next season isn’t the worst thing in the world. To be totally honest he did what he could with the obstacles that he faced all season. Think about it, the Lakers were a legitimate playoff team until pretty much everyone got hurt.
LeBron James missed 17 games after getting hurt on Christmas Day, Lonzo Ball hasn’t played since Jan. 19, Kyle Kuzma missed a chunk of games and Brandon Ingram who started heating up when James returned hasn’t played since the beginning of March.
It’s hard to win games when your best players and the core of your roster are essentially missing a quarter of the season. If this happened to any other team in the league their head coach probably wouldn’t be on the hot and would get a pass.
Laker fans may not like Walton, but he had this team in playoff contention before guys hit the shelf. There have been rumors about the Lakers possibly looking into hiring Jason Kidd, Tyron Lue or Rick Carlisle should they part with Walton this summer.
Nothing is imminent, but it’ll be interesting to see how the Lakers handle their head coaching situation this offseason, because whatever decision they make they need to be totally invested into it.