As many wait in anticipation of the Feb 8. NBA trade deadline, other happenings might be taking place behind the scenes that could cause an equal amount of shock that any blockbuster trade could cause.

The comments stirring controversy regarding LaVar Ball's thoughts about Lakers head coach Luke Walton may not have been a random shot for attention.

Ball has been loudly critical enough of Walton's coaching effort enough to have the Lakers brass meet with him to ask him to tone it down.

However accurate or inaccurate Ball's comments may be, it has caused enough of a distraction for the team and has turned social media into a hotbed of conversation about how harmful his outspoken comments are for Walton's job security and to the organization.

Last week, Ball spoke about Walton once again, saying he feels that he lost control the team which stirred an avalanche of backlash from coaches, fans, and ironically enough, the Lakers brass remained silent in the midst of the commotion.

That's not to say that they agree with Ball's assessment, however, the word coming from the Lakers camp is that management supports Walton despite Ball throwing him under the bus, or do they?

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ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported early Friday when appearing on the Rich Eisen show that Lakers management does not support Walton as much as initially thought, and they are already looking at former Memphis Grizzlies coach David Fizdale as a near future replacement for Walton.

Whatever you want to say about LaVar Ball, he has smoked out the fact that the Lakers do not support Luke Walton. And that is now crystal clear.

And there are now guys out there wondering openly to me—executives, coaches, agents—who the Lakers are going to hire as their next coach.

Windhorst continued to reinforce his point as Eisen skeptically shouted about how crazy it all sounded.

Because that has been revealed here: That they do not have unconditional support for Luke.

I got executives in my ear, I got agents in my ear, saying, ‘Oh yeah, they’re probably going to hire David Fizdale.

Granted we have heard little from management themselves, they would be hard-pressed to put this kind of information out to the public before they make sure all of their business is in order.

Where there is smoke, there is fire, and we will see soon enough if Ball is still speaking things into existence — or just blowing smoke.