From the outside looking in, the seat Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton sits in during games appears to be engulfed in proverbial flames after the team entered the All-Star break with a dispiriting and lethargic 117-113 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
The Lakers firing Walton midseason wouldn’t seem to accomplish a whole lot, but given that the team seemed to mostly just lay down and die against the lottery-bound Hawks, and that the Lakers would have almost two weeks before their next game to install a potential replacement, if they were going to try and install a new leader for their final playoff push, a completely dispiriting loss that president of basketball operations Magic Johnson witnessed in person would seem to be the time.