While most fans and basketball pundits are already counting him out, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton is not raising the white flag yet. The embattled coach believes that his stint with the storied franchise this season will not be his last despite failing to make the playoffs again.
Walton told Bill Oram of The Athletic that he “fully” expects to be coaching the Lakers again next season. While he is aware that there are already talks about potential candidates to replace him, Walton insisted that he is just considering everything as rumors linked to the Lakers coaching job until someone tells him otherwise.
“I just view it as outside noise unless someone from within tells me that that happened,” Walton said. “Unless someone from within our group is telling me that, I just view it like all the other things we've gone through as a team this year.”
Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was initially mentioned a strong candidate to replace Walton when he gets fired. However, Rivers ended the talks about a possible transfer to the Lakers, saying that he is committed to the Clippers franchise as long as team owner Steve Ballmer trusts him.
Former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd and former Golden State Warriors mentor Mark Jackson were also mentioned as potential candidates. Marc Stein of The New York Times also revealed that Rick Carlisle is also a priority for the Lakers, but it will be hard for the franchise to pry him away from the Dallas Mavericks.
Stein added the former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue is a favorite to replace Walton. Lue coached LeBron James to a championship in 2016, and the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player is reportedly open to playing under the former Lakers guard again.
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