When the Los Angeles Lakers hired Luke Walton as head coach, he was inheriting a team that had gone an abysmal 17-65 the season prior, missed the NBA playoffs for a third consecutive year and was firmly in a rebuilding process.
Walton helped the Lakers increase their win total by nine games in each of his first two seasons as the team showed growth behind a developing young core of players. Of course, the Lakers were also positioning themselves for a big 2018 free agency and that paid off with the signing of LeBron James.
His arrival immediately changed expectations, even if the most reasonable ones still did not have the Lakers as a championship contender.