Luke Walton lands notable new coaching job with NBA team

Mar 5, 2020; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach Luke Walton reacts to a call during the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports

Luke Walton is working his way back up the ranks.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Friday that the Detroit Pistons are hiring Walton to be their new lead assistant coach. Walton will be serving as the lieutenant to new Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff (who is taking over for the fired Monty Williams).

The 44-year-old Walton, a two-time NBA champion as a player for the Los Angeles Lakers, has been around the block over his last decade in coaching. He served as an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors from 2014-16, winning an NBA title with them in 2015 and even briefly taking over as their interim head coach when Steve Kerr had to miss time due to health issues in the 2015-16 season.

Walton then left to become a full-time head coach for both the Lakers from 2016-19 and for the Sacramento Kings from 2019-21. But Walton went 98-148 (.398) with the Lakers, followed that one up by going 68-93 (.422) with the Kings, never once made the playoffs with either team, and ended up being fired by both teams. Even in more recent years, Walton was still getting dissed by his former players.

But Walton has since built back some of his reputation, having worked as an assistant coach under Bickerstaff on the Cleveland Cavaliers for the last two seasons. Now he is following Bickerstaff to Detroit and becoming his No. 2 in command on a Pistons team that has been active this offseason with several new additions.