Luke Walton, in his third year as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, has different expectation put on him and his team this season from previous iterations. With the acquisition of LeBron James the rules are suddenly different and the Lakers are expected to be a top their team by both their fans and their management. With the slow start to the season so far, Luke Walton may be under pressure from the front office to perform sooner rather than later. Dave McMenamin and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN report that Magic Johnson met with Walton to “admonish” him for the poor performances.
Despite Johnson’s prior proclamations of needing to allow time for Walton to develop a young roster surrounding four-time MVP LeBron James, evidence is mounting that Walton’s job security ultimately depends upon his ability to significantly improve upon a 3-5 record to start the season.
The Lakers have looked explosive on offense averaging the sixth most points per game in this young season (121.0), but have looked completely lost defensively giving up the fifth most points per game (121.1). While the margin is razor thin, having a negative point differential at this point in the season is unaceptable for a team of the caliber the Lakers aim to be at.
Walton rebuffed the reports today saying that his relationship with management was “great.” He went on to say that as they have more time to play together as a team that they will turn things around on the court.
Luke Walton says he’s not read the ESPN report about his meeting with Magic Johnson. He says he has a “great relationship” with management and he doesn’t feel like he’s going anywhere. pic.twitter.com/uGbA7NP2O8
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) November 2, 2018
Luke Walton was a popular hire as he came from a top assistants position at Golden State to the Lakers in 2016. Only time will tell of how much more time Walton may have in Los Angeles.
