Luke Walton Will Be an NBA Head Coach Next Year, but Where?
As far as NBA coaching prospects are concerned, rises through the ranks don't get much meteoric than Luke Walton's. Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins recently recalled Walton's path from retired Los Angeles Lakers farmhand to interim coach of the defending champion Golden State Warriors:
"That left Walton, who two years ago was playing for a rec-league team called Wonder Bread at Aviation Gym in Redondo Beach, moonlighting as a Lakers TV analyst on Time Warner Cable Sports; and working part-time as a flip-flop-wearing staffer for the L.A. D-Fenders of the Development League. Even last season, Walton was only a player development coach in Golden State, learning from colleague Chris DeMarco how to compile scouting reports. He handled the Warriors' summer-league outfit, but he also spent a lot of afternoons on beach volleyball courts in Manhattan Beach, with a squad that rocks tight-fitting Lakers uniforms and Afro wigs in homage to Fletch. Suddenly, this guy was in charge of the champs.
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Now, Walton isn't just in charge, but flying high. He shepherded the Warriors through a 24-0 start—the best in American pro sports history—and to the 28-1 record they owned to start the 2015-16 season. As NBA.com's David Aldridge revealed, Walton could coach the Western Conference at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto, despite having as many wins on his official record as you and I combined, if Steve Kerr is still sidelined by the same complication from back surgery that put his protege in the top seat to begin with.
"It's no fluke that Luke is the right guy at the right time," Phil Jackson, Walton's former coach with the Lakers, told Jenkins.
Soon enough, he may well be the right guy at the right time for a team beyond the East Bay. Once Kerr returns—he already ran a full practice while Walton was out sick, per the Associated Press—the son of Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton will have to scoot down a seat on game days.
But the end of Walton's interim stint could be just the beginning of his own ride around the league's coaching carousel. The question is, where will he land?
That depends, of course, on where the vacancies will be and with whom he'll be competing to fill them.
Houston Rockets
At present, the clearest—and, perhaps, most appealing—potential opportunity for any candidate, Walton included, is with the Houston Rockets. They've begun to regain their footing after firing Kevin McHale following a 4-7 start.
But getting the Rockets across the finish line with a .500 record probably won't cut it for interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff. He has the unenviable task of following up an historic campaign (56 wins, the franchise's first Western Conference Finals appearance in nearly two decades) with a disgruntled squad that seems to be coming apart at the seams.
Should Bickerstaff get the boot at season's end, whoever's next in line will oversee a talented team helmed by James Harden, one of the game's pre-eminent stars and the players' choice for MVP honors last season. Dwight Howard could be gone by way of an opt-out, but given his decline on the court and penchant for headaches off of it, that might be for the best in Space City.
Phoenix Suns
If that doesn't work out for Walton, the Phoenix Suns could snap up the Arizona product. According to Bleacher Report's Howard Beck, the Suns have already been mulling that possibility for a while:
This comes in the wake of a revelation from Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski that Phoenix has fired two of Jeff Hornacek's top assistants. If the Suns dip much lower than 12-21—and they could, with Eric Bledsoe out for six weeks, Markieff Morris still upset and games against the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder on deck—Hornacek might find the axe barreling down on his neck, too.
In all likelihood, that would leave Earl Watson as the stopgap in the Valley of the Sun. He'd be overseeing a talented but oddly constructed squad built around the gifted young backcourt of Bledsoe and Brandon Knight, with a pair of injury-prone 7-footers (Alex Len and Tyson Chandler) manning the middle.
With some tweaks to the roster, Phoenix could feature a fun, fast-paced outfit with playoff aspirations under Walton.
Washington Wizards
But if he really wants to be a postseason coach right away, Walton could wait out the Washington Wizards' gig.
Granted, as of Christmas weekend, the Wizards were on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. And as of early December, Washington saw dumping its current coach, Randy Wittman, as "a last resort," per Basketball Insiders' Steve Kyler.
But Wittman isn't exactly a players' coach, as Walton has proven to be in Oakland. And with all the injuries that have befallen the Wizards this season, they may be destined for a step back from the playoff-bound success of the previous two years. If that happens, Wittman probably wouldn't be immune from the chopping block.
In the event that heads roll in D.C., the next person in line would inherit a team tailor-made for a brand of uptempo basketball akin to that in which Walton's Warriors have been thriving. The backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal, while shaky health-wise, remains one of the NBA's best. Put those two—and, perhaps, a big-name free agent like, say, Kevin Durant in 2016—under the tutelage of an easygoing coach who's seen the Splash Brothers up close and who knows what kind of scoring machine might emerge in the nation's capital?
Minnesota Timberwolves
Though Walton's done exceedingly well "guiding that Lambo back on the lot," as Bleacher Report's Ric Bucher put it, a young coach like him might be more comfortable on the bumpy road of a cutthroat profession in a sleek starter car.
Which is to say, a job with the Minnesota Timberwolves could suit Walton. The T-Wolves already have a coach in Sam Mitchell, who got the team off to a surprising 8-8 start.
But Minnesota dropped 12 of its next 15 games, and Mitchell, for all he's done to develop the team's talented prospects, is more of a stopgap installed for the late Flip Saunders than a full-time solution.
The T-Wolves certainly have the type of talent needed to push the pace in a way that Walton would find familiar. According to NBA.com, Minnesota is currently middle-of-the-pack in possessions per game, despite sporting spry-legged wings like Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine and a point guard in Ricky Rubio who can feed them on the fly.
In Minneapolis, Walton would get to grow alongside Wiggins, LaVine and Rookie of the Year favorite Karl-Anthony Towns. His background in player development would come in handy in that capacity, as well.
And if Walton proves to be as good a coach as his early success suggests, he could be at the forefront of a perennial Western Conference contender in the not-so-distant future.
Los Angeles Lakers
The same could be said if Walton were to wind up with the team that drafted him in 2003. The Lakers don't look anything like a team on the cusp of greatness. But give the purple and gold a couple cracks at major free agents once Kobe Bryant retires, and it may not be long before those signature colors are restored to their proper luster.
Until that time comes, whoever gets the call in Lakerland post-Mamba would be charged with turning Julius Randle, D'Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and whichever newbie the team picks up in 2016 (if it keeps its first-rounder) into steady NBA contributors, if not outright stars.
Here again, Walton's experience in player development would be a boon to his candidacy. So would his eight-and-a-half seasons and two titles in a Lakers uniform. If there's anything the NBA's most glamorous organization likes, it's familiar faces.
Just ask Mitch Kupchak, the team's long-time general manager who won a championship with the Showtime squad. Or Ryan West, the son of Lakers legend Jerry West who now serves as the franchise's director of player personnel. Or Byron Scott, the team's current coach and another staple of the Showtime era.
Scott would be the one to keep Walton from the league's glitziest throne. As the Los Angeles Daily News' Mark Medina reported in early December, the Lakers have no plans to fire Scott...yet:
"But Byron Scott still has enough support from Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and vice president of player personnel Jim Buss that he is expected to coach through the rest of the 2015-16 season, according to team sources familiar with the situation. With Scott signing a four-year, $17 million deal last summer, the Lakers plan to evaluate his future once the 2015-16 season ends, according to a team source.
The Lakers are not happy with the persistent losing, obviously. But Kupchak and Buss sympathize with Scott on handling what one team source called “a no-win situation.”
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The completion of another franchise-worst season could be enough to cost Scott his gig, especially if the Lakers find him to be a poor fit long-term.
A Crowded Market For Coaches
Walton, though, could hardly count on landing the Lakers' job, or any other for that matter. Come spring, there will be plenty of big-name coaches with resumes more impressive than Walton's.
Former Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau is lurking in the coaching waters. His reputation as a revolutionary defensive mastermind should make him a leading candidate to fill just about any opening. And the results he's squeezed out of his squads—a title as Doc Rivers' top assistant in Boston, the 13th-best winning percentage in league history with the Bulls (.758 in 2011-12)—speak for themselves.
Scott Brooks boasts a similar CV from his time turning the Oklahoma City Thunder, led by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, into a Western Conference powerhouse. Mark Jackson's work laying the foundation of today's Warriors could earn him another shot at escaping the TV booth. Jackson's colleague, Jeff Van Gundy, has seen his name bandied about whenever and wherever a major position has needed a new voice.
Today's hot seat sitters could become tomorrow's retreads. Dave Joerger, who flirted with the Wolves in 2014, could be a top candidate in Minnesota if he gets canned by the Memphis Grizzlies. Hornacek and Wittman might be sought after if they're let go.
And let's not forget: Walton isn't the only assistant with the chops to take over as head coach somewhere. The flipside of Walton's rocket ride up the ranks of candidates is that he hasn't paid his dues like Cleveland's Tyronn Lue, Miami's David Fizdale, Atlanta's Kenny Atkinson and San Antonio's Ime Udoka and Becky Hammon, among many others.
The NBA's coaching carousel figures to be as crowded with quality candidates as ever once the 2015-16 season comes to a close. The more the Warriors win now, the better Walton will be able to distinguish himself from the pack and continue climbing the ladder.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
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