Luke Walton
It’s hard to figure out where to begin for what went wrong between Luke Walton and the Lakers this season. Since the Lakers had so much turmoil going on for so long, it’s hard to point fingers at any one person even the head coach. There was a lot of turbulence in the locker room, and not a whole lot of unity behind LeBron himself.
A recent rumor and report also surfaced that there were some issues in the locker room between LeBron and Walton. The response from Walton ultimately didn’t play much of a role at the end of the month of February to slow things down regarding his hot seat. Although, some blame also has to fall on LeBron’s shoulders here.
The main point here is that the Lakers are missing the playoffs with a superstar in the fold that doesn’t have many years yet to contend for another title. The Lakers are also seemingly a while away from contending for a title with the current roster at hand. Free agency needs to be very friendly to the Lakers this summer.
Miami Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard would indeed be a candidate for the Lakers' head coaching job, I'm told, if it opens as so many around the league have expected for weeks. Yet I'm also told he should not be billed as the frontrunner ... as some bookmakers have this week
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 5, 2019
Yet, Walton’s days in Los Angeles look to be numbered. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if the Lakers got rid of Walton before the end of the regular season. A lot depends on how quickly the front office for the Lakers can get a coaching search done with a quality candidate. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, Juwan Howard is a candidate the Lakers are looking into for potentially replacing Walton.