The Los Angeles Lakers have themselves a new head coach. The team announced Friday that Luke Walton agreed to a multi-year deal to become the team’s next head coach.
“We’re excited to bring Luke back to Los Angeles, where we feel he’s going to start an outstanding coaching career,” GM Mitch Kupchak said. “He’s one of the brightest young coaching minds in the game and we feel fortunate that he’ll be leading the on-court future of our team.”
The Lakers previously had Byron Scott as their head coach, but the chose not to pick up his option for next season. The team must have known they had a good chance of hiring Walton to make such a move.
Walton, 36, has been an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors for two seasons. He served as the team’s interim head coach while Steve Kerr was recovering from offseason back surgeries, and he led them to a 39-4 record, including a record-best 24-0 start to the season.
Walton is a young, up-and-coming coach who was drafted by the Lakers and won two championships with the team as a player. He is a familiar face and name for Lakers fans and should work well as the team’s new head coach.
