Luke Walton has been sitting on one of the league’s warmest/hottest seats basically since Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka took over for Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak in 2017. When LeBron James arrived last summer, that seat took on the temperature of one of those Hibachi grills.
As the Lakers went through one of the more disappointing and frustrating seasons in recent memory, Walton looked increasingly likely to be shown the door this offseason, but he still believes in his future with the organization, as he told Bill Oram of The Athletic:
“I fully expect to be coaching this team again next year,” he told The Athletic on Tuesday night.