The Los Angeles Lakers will finally have the opportunity to interview their top candidate.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr confirmed on Wednesday that the Lakers have been granted permission to speak to Luke Walton following the conclusion of Golden State's first round series with the Houston Rockets.
Walton has a deep connection with the Lakers, having played with the franchise from 2003 until 2012. He won two championships with Los Angeles in 2009 and 2010.
While Walton has never been an official head coach, he essentially served as one when he was the interim coach during Kerr's absence in the first half of the season. Walton led the Warriors to a 39-4 record, and even finished eighth in Coach of the Year voting despite his assistant coach job title.
Despite the Lakers possibly being in Walton's future, the assistant coach refused to talk anything else but Golden State, via the San Jose Mercury News:
“I love my job here. I absolutely love it. I love the playoff battles that we're in right now. We've got prep work to do. Every bit of focus right now should be on the playoffs. So any questions I'm asked about anything else is a distraction in my opinion, and then I'm being selfish. So I'm not answering anything about anything except for our team and the playoffs.”
With the Lakers taking their time in the search for a new head coach, they'll certainly be patient in awaiting to interview Walton.
In case Walton truly isn't interested in coming back to Los Angeles, the Lakers already have their second choice in mind.
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