The Cleveland Cavaliers seem to have a good chance of changing head coaches after this season, and the current head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Luke Walton, reportedly could be on Cleveland’s radar.
It’s not been easy for current Cleveland Cavaliers head coach, Larry Drew, during this 2018-19 season. Regardless, based on prior reports about the Cleveland head coaching situation after this year concludes, going in a new head coaching direction seems to be a very good possibility.
One of the names suggested recently to take over in Cleveland by Sporting News’ Sean Deveney (h/t Sam Amico of Amico Hoops) is current Los Angeles Lakers head coach, Luke Walton, who in all likelihood, reportedly won’t be back next season.
The Lakers have been in a mess this year, and yes, Walton deserves some blame for that, but it’s been a rough situation for him, anyhow, with all the LeBron James/Klutch Sports Group Lakers’ trade rumors, injuries forcing LeBron, Lonzo Ball, and many more to miss time, etc.
Deveney also pointed out that Walton did not have much of a chance to last in L.A. with James, there, anyway, even right at the beginning when The King reportedly signed in La-La Land.
"“The fate of Lakers coach Luke Walton may well have been sealed, oddly enough, on one of the better days in the recent history of the franchise: July 1 of last summer, when the team got LeBron James to sign a four-year contract. That’s because in meeting with James that day, team president Magic Johnson did not include Walton as part of the group making the Lakers’ pitch."
Deveney would go on to note that James gave Walton similar treatment he gave to David Blatt when LeBron came back to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer of 2014.
"“James didn’t meet with Walton until two weeks after he joined the team last summer, reminiscent of the weeks he waited before sitting down with coach David Blatt when he signed with the Cavaliers in 2014. Blatt lasted the next season thanks to a Finals trip, but he was axed midway through the following year.”"
Taking that sort of disconnect into consideration, paired with James’ reported groin injury (which caused him to miss 17 games in which the Lakers mightily struggled in), it’s easier to understand why this year didn’t work out for Walton.
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In relation to Walton, who is essentially out after the year as the Lakers head coach, potentially being a fit elsewhere, Deveney mentioned how he could be a reasonable target for rebuilding teams, and specifically mentioned the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Deveney highlighted how Walton had a “39-4 record filling in for Steve Kerr with the [Golden State] Warriors in 2015-16,” and also said how Walton increased the Lakers’ win total in the two years before this season from before he arrived from 17 to “26 wins, then to 35 wins last year.”
Though the Suns have been a dysfunctional franchise for a number of years, Deveney touched on how a source told Sporting News that “Walton, who starred at Arizona, is seen as a top potential replacement” for current Phoenix head coach Igor Kokoskov.
From there, Deveney said that, per sources, the “Cavaliers will seek a coach who can develop the franchise’s young players, particularly point guard Collin Sexton and whomever the Cavs select in this year’s draft.”
Walton did finish his career as an NBA player with Cleveland in 2012-13, in what was the same year that now-general manager, Koby Altman, started with the Cavs, as was mentioned in the piece, and that could play a role in the Cleveland Cavaliers possibly hiring Walton.
For now, Cleveland hopes to finish the season strong, and keep giving the young key pieces, namely Sexton, Cedi Osman, Larry Nance Jr. and Ante Zizic, ample opportunities to grow from in-game experience.
Nance, for instance, could vouch for Walton being a solid rebuilding coach and teacher for young players, given that Nance was coached by Walton before with the Lakers in the 2016-17 season, up until last year’s trade deadline, in which Jr. was traded to Cleveland at the 2018 NBA trade deadline.
Maybe Walton would be better off in a situation in Cleveland, where there won’t be constant pressure to be a contender, as opposed to in L.A., where Walton and James did not seem to be on the same page in a nonstop media circus that magnifies everything.
It is probably way too early to tell what the Cavs and Altman will do with the head coaching situation after the season, though.