Woj: Lakers Coaching Staff Expected to Be Fired Before Magic Johnson Resignation

The 2018-19 Los Angeles Lakers season took another incredible turn Tuesday when Magic Johnson stepped down as the team's president of basketball operations. Before the news broke, the Lakers coaching staff reportedly expected to be fired.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the coaching news, noting the members of the staff "believed they were gone for months."

Wojnarowski added more context:

Johnson didn't inform Lakers owner Jeanie Buss of his decision to step down and instead elected to hold a press conference, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

"Somebody's going to have to tell my boss because I knew I couldn't be face-to-face and tell her. ... I couldn't stand to tell her," he said, per Bill Oram of The Athletic.

Earlier Tuesday, ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported on The Jump that Johnson and head coach Luke Walton hadn't spoken for weeks:

"No. No anxiety," Walton said when asked about whether he was worried about his job status entering the final game of the season, per McMenamin. "But call me later tonight and maybe that answer will be different."

To Walton's credit, the Lakers have improved slightly in each of his three seasons as head coach. They were 26-56 in 2016-17, 35-47 last season and are 37-44 this season in spite of injuries to LeBron James, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram and the will-they-or-won't-they Anthony Davis trade drama that dominated headlines for an extended stretch leading up to the trade deadline.

The future of the franchise is now up in the air after Johnson's decision, but it's unclear whether the news changes the fate of the coaching staff.

Since Johnson reportedly wasn't even speaking to Walton before his surprising announcement, it appears as though Walton may have a better chance of lasting beyond this season.