Walton joined the staff at the University of Memphis as an assistant under Josh Pastner, who Walton knew from his time at Arizona where Pastner was also a player as well as an assistant coach. Walton remained an assistant until the lockout ended.
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On Saturday night, Walton returned to Memphis as a head coach for the first time, on the same floor where he began his career on the sidelines. Before the game, Walton reflected about his time with the Tigers, noting that he didn’t get to work with players as much as he would have liked via Bill Oram of the OC Register:
“I didn’t get to spend as much time working with the players as I would have liked,” Walton said before the Lakers’ 103-100 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday at FedEx Forum.