Luke Walton may be reuniting with his former coach this summer in New York.
The current Golden State Warriors assistant coach and former Los Angeles Lakers player is apparently a coaching target of Phil Jackson, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The New York Knicks president has been given permission by the Warriors to speak with Walton about their possible head coaching vacancy:
“If Knicks president Phil Jackson wanted to talk to Warriors stud assistant Luke Walton during their expected long playoff run, Golden State would not stand in the way, according to an NBA source.
Golden State’s position is that an assistant can interview for a head-coaching position “as long as it does not interfere with the team’s preparation during the playoffs,’’ the source said. For instance, an interview would need to happen in the Oakland, Calif., area at a convenient time with the club enjoying a couple of days off.”
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This reunion would make sense for a number of reasons, one being that Walton is familiar with the triangle offense that Jackson still wants his teams to run. It's the reason Derek Fisher was the head coach of the Knicks before being fired and it's the reason Kurt Rambis is the current interim head coach.
Another reason why it would make sense is that Walton wants a head coaching job. It was Walton, not Steve Kerr, who led the Warriors during the first half of the regular season.
While the Knicks won't be championship contenders any time soon, they have some nice pieces in Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis. If you give them a capable head coach, there should be no reason to believe they can't be a playoff team in 2016-17.
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