Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson will reportedly be influenced by superstar small LeBron James in terms of head coach Luke Walton's future with the club, according to Mitch Lawrence of Sporting News.
Magic and Walton reportedly had a heated meeting this week in which the two man clashed over the team's slow start to the season. Walton is not on the hot seat, at least not yet.
By all accounts, LeBron James and Luke Walton have a good relationship so far. There haven't been any reports claiming that LeBron has an issue with Walton and his coaching style.
That's important to note because if James does start to get frustrated with Walton and tells Magic Johnson about it, it appears Magic won't be hesitant to fire Walton and look for a new head coach.
“The difference is that Pat Riley is a former coach and his guy is Erik [Spoelstra], and he was not going to be bullied into doing what LeBron wanted,” said one Western Conference GM. “Magic doesn’t think like Riley. He’ll be influenced by LeBron. Remember: Magic also had a coach fired when he was playing. He knows how it works.”
During his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James and head coach David Blatt didn't have a good rapport. As a result, Blatt was fired in the middle of the 2015-16 season. LeBron and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra also weren't on the same page during the early days of the Big Three in Miami. The two, however, were able to work things out and win two championships together.
The Lakers enter Saturday with a record of 3-5. They are giving up a whopping 121.1 points per game, which ranks third worst in the NBA. There's still a lot of games to be played, but Luke Walton's coaching situation in Los Angeles is definitely something to monitor.
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