Report: Magic Johnson gives Walton improve-or-else warning

(Field Level Media) Luke Walton is already coaching for his job with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Lakers president Magic Johnson informed Walton of this reality in a meeting Tuesday, ESPN reported.

The Lakers opened the season 3-5 amidst rising expectations following the arrival of LeBron James in July. Johnson had said patience would be critical as James blends with a core of young players, but Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday that Walton is very much on notice that he must win now.

Walton was in place nearly a year before Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka took over the team at the behest of Jeanie Buss. Johnson puts the ball in Pelinka’s hands on roster decisions and most day-to-day personnel matters.

ESPN reported Johnson has been heavy-handed in his approach to Walton behind the scenes despite Buss supporting the former Golden State Warriors assistant who played for the Lakers during Kobe Bryant’s heyday. James has been supportive of Walton publicly. ESPN reported the same is true privately.

“I think Luke’s trying to figure out what works best,” James said after a onepoint win over the Mavericks this week. “We knew it was going to be like that from the summer when ‘Zo had the knee surgery. We knew we were going to have a lineup change there. Obviously, we had the unexpected one when we had the suspensions, so we had a lineup change there... We’ll get to a point where we know how comfortable we need to be with different lineups.”