Walton escapes finger-pointing
His job as Lakers coach is said to be safe in the wake of a defeat to the lowly Atlanta Hawks.
There have been no internal discussions about Lakers coach Luke Walton’s job status in the wake of the team’s loss to the lowly Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Walton “will definitely finish the season” and has the full support of the Lakers’ front office, one person said.
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka are on the same page about Walton remaining as coach for the rest of the season, the people said.
Buss especially wants to give Walton every opportunity to succeed, one person said.
“Nothing is going to happen with Luke,” that person said. “There hasn’t even been any talk about it and there won’t be any talks about it. Luke will definitely finish the season and he has the full support. So any talk in the media or on social media can be put to bed about Luke. He’s not going anywhere. There has been no conversation about it.”
The Lakers want Walton to hold the players “accountable.” The Lakers front-office personnel wants to see player and team improvement as well as Walton make better ingame adjustments, the people said.
One of the many sore points with
the front office is that the Lakers are the worst free-throw-shooting team in the NBA, at 68.7%, after finishing last in the league in the same category last season at 71.4%.
During the loss to the Hawks in Atlanta, there seemed to be some “disconnect” between Walton and the players, one person said.
LeBron James didn’t look “totally engaged,” despite 28 points, 16 assists and 11 rebounds, one person said.
Another person said all the players had “bad body language” during the loss, which dropped the Lakers below .500 for the first time since November.
The Lakers are 10th in the Western Conference, three games behind the eighth-place Clippers for the final playoff spot.
Another person said that Johnson, who was at the game in Atlanta, didn’t like how the team played with such “low energy.”
The Lakers’ 42-point loss to the Indiana Pacers last week was disturbing to the front office, one person said, and the poor defensive effort in a 23-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday was problematic.
The stirring, last-second 129-128 victory at Boston between those defeats was impressive, one person said, and that’s the kind of effort the front office wants to see.
In evaluating Walton this season, the Lakers have taken into account the injuries he has had to deal with heading into the All-Star break this weekend.
Starting point guard Lonzo Ball is out with a sprained left ankle. He’s expected back after the break.
James sat out 18 games while recovering from a groin injury. Rajon Rondo was out five weeks because of a broken right hand and sat out four more weeks after having surgery for a Grade 3 sprain of his right ring finger. Brandon Ingram sat out two weeks because of a sprained ankle.
But there was a time when the Lakers were healthy andhad climbed to fourth in the West in late December.
With 25 regular-season games remaining, the front office wants to see the Lakers make a push for the playoffs by playing better, more inspired basketball the rest of the way.
“Everyone believes in Luke,” one person said. “Now it’s about him getting the best out of the team.”