Luke Walton A Laker No More

Luke Walton is the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. That is the case at this moment, but as is so often the case on teams led by Lebron James he might not have that same title anymore. There has been speculation about Walton's job security all year. He reportedly met with Magic Johnson earlier in the season with the impression left that he was on thin ice. The front office has not given any assurance that Walton will hold the job for the rest of the season. And after a how bad they were the whole month of January with the absence of Lebron James,Walton's seat has grown hotter than ever.

The best reason not to fire him had been the simplest. There didn't appear to be an obvious replacement in place. There aren't any star coaches who are currently unemployed. Firing Walton would mean taking a risk on an underwhelming hire, especially if this report from Ric Bucher is true. In his words, via Dan Feldman of NBC Sports, Jason Kidd "appears to be very much in the mix and possibly is even the favorite" for the job.

Bucher's report even claims that the Lakers have gotten back to Kidd after he initially reached out to express interest in the job, though it is unclear how formal such conversations might have been or even within what context they took place. Walton is still employed by the Lakers, and while it certainly wouldn't be unheard of for a team to seek out a replacement before letting go of their current coach, it would be poor etiquette to say the least and not the sort of thing Jeanie Buss would seem keen on doing to a former Lakers champion.

Walton as of right now is in the hot seat as I mentioned earlier. But if the Lakers are smart they would keep Walton we know he hasn’t had great seasons with the Lakers yet but the Lakers are still developing as a team with their extremely young core. He’s truly making the best of what they are giving him and of course they weren’t good when Lebron was out if they didn’t need Lebron they wouldn’t have sign him.