Los Angeles Lakers Hire Luke Walton To Be Next Head Coach

Luke Walton has been hired by the Los Angeles Lakers to be their next head coach the team announced on Friday.

The 36-year-old Walton has deep ties to the Lakers. He was drafted by the organization with the 32nd overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. The Arizona product spent nine years with the Lakers before being shipped to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the middle of the 2011-12 season.

He won two NBA championships with the Lakers and was part of four teams that went to the NBA Finals.

Since retiring after the 2012-13 season, Walton was a player development coach for the Los Angeles D-Fenders (the Lakers’ D-League team) for the 2013-14 season, then became an assistant for the Golden State Warriors in 2014.

Hiring Walton is certainly a risk for the Lakers. He has no full-time head coaching experience, but was the interim coach for the Warriors to start this season while head coach Steve Kerr dealt with back issues. Golden State went 39-4 under Walton, which was the second-best start in league history. They also opened the season with an NBA-record 24 straight wins.

Walton has always had a keen basketball mind so he could wind up being a home run hire for Los Angeles. He’ll have a talented group of young players to mold with D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson (assuming he re-signs this offseason). Walton is a Phil Jackson disciple, but also doesn’t appear married to the triangle offense like some of Jackson’s other former players.

Time will tell if this is a good move by the Lakers or not, but Walton is a San Diego native who will likely welcome a return to Southern California. Besides, when one of the NBA’s glamour franchises comes calling, it’s impossible to turn down that job down.