Luke Walton Named Western Conference Coach of the Month: Details and Reaction

Luke Walton might not technically have any wins as a head coach, but the interim Golden State Warriors boss is getting recognition in other ways.   

Walton was named the Western Conference Coach of the Month for November on Tuesday after leading the Warriors to a 19-0 start. Golden State's 19-game winning streak is the longest in NBA history to begin a season, surpassing the previous record of 15 that had only been done twice previously.

Walton, 35, has been on the bench for all of those games as he continues to hold down the fort for a recovering Steve Kerr. Kerr, who led the Warriors to a championship in his first season in 2014-15, has been out because of complications from offseason back surgery.

The NBA issued a statement earlier Tuesday saying Walton would not receive the wins on his personal record, per ESPN.com. It will instead attribute them to Kerr under guidelines regarding interim coaches. 

"I think it's ridiculous," Kerr told ESPN.com's Ethan Sherwood Strauss last week. "I'm sitting in the locker room and watching the games on TV, and I'm not even traveling to most of the road games. Luke's doing all the work with the rest of the staff. Luke is [19-0] right now. I'm not. So it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, to be honest with you. I don't even understand it."

The Warriors as a team have staunchly defended the work Walton has done, and he's maintained a level head. Kerr also has kept it light with Walton about the situation.

"For a while there I'd get the text after every game or if he was still in the building, just a 'Thanks for another one' type of text," Walton said, per the Bay Area News Group. "Or before we'd walk out, he'd tell the whole staff, 'Go get me a win, boys' on our way out to the court."

With Kerr still on the mend and no timetable given for his return, it's theoretically possible that Walton winds up receiving Coach of the Year consideration as well. One Warriors player believes Kerr may not return until the All-Star break, per ESPN's J.A. Adande (via SB Nation's Jesus Gomez), which would give Walton more than half of a season to set records and make voters think. 

Either way, it's clear that even if Walton isn't being credited with wins now, he's put himself atop the potential wish list for every vacancy come 2016-17.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.