From the outside looking in, the seat Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton sits in during games appears to be engulfed in proverbial flames after the team entered the All-Star break with a dispiriting and lethargic 117-113 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
The Lakers firing Walton midseason wouldn’t seem to accomplish a whole lot, but given that the team seemed to mostly just lay down and die against the lottery-bound Hawks, and that the Lakers would have almost two weeks before their next game to install a potential replacement, if they were going to try and install a new leader for their final playoff push, a completely dispiriting loss that president of basketball operations Magic Johnson witnessed in person would seem to be the time.
Walton wasn’t asked about that possibility by reporters after the loss, but he didn’t seem to be worried about losing his job, and spoke like a man expecting to be around when the team returned from their midseason vacation during his postgame interview on Spectrum Sportsnet:
What can the Lakers do to come back ready to push for a playoff spot they’re 2.5 games out of as of Tuesday night? Walton told reporters that the answer is “different for everyone,” but that there is one constant he wants to see from his team when they return:
It remains to be seen if Walton will be there to greet them, but as of publishing time he’s still Lakers head coach, and despite the adversity — trade rumors, injuries and more — he and the team have had to go through this year, he’s ready to come back in a little over a week and make one more push with this roster.
“We haven’t had a lot of continuity with our group,” Walton told reporters. “We’ve got to figure it out and go on a good run to end the season.”
If the Lakers can’t do so, Walton would appear unlikely to continue on much past that.
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