Luke Walton was a rookie on the Kobe-Shaq-Malone-Payton Lakers. He was a part of two L.A. championship squads. He was an assistant and interim head coach on a Golden State unit that finished with the best regular-season record in NBA history.
And now, he is head coach of the LeBron James-led Lakers, and manager of all the expectations that come with that title.
After ESPN reported that President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson “admonished” Walton for the Lakers’ 3-5 start, the coach reiterated to his team that such media attention is nothing unexpected.
“My message to the players was: This is what we talked about,” Walton said at Friday’s practice.