Luke

Walton

After a slow start in Sacramento, Walton was relieved of his head coaching duties in November. Walton was in year three of leading the Kings after a stint with the Lakers. His successful 39-4 start with the Warriors when Steve Kerr was sidelined likely helped land him two head coaching gigs, but he’ll make a return to the sidelines as an assistant next season. We’ll see if a team takes another chance on him in the future.

The Kings’ leadership has been a mess for a long time, and without major strides to show in terms of team record or player development, Walton’s ouster comes as little surprise. He walks away with a guaranteed $11.5 million still coming his way through 2022-23. Kings associate head coach Alvin Gentry is expected to be a “strong candidate” for the interim job. Hope springs eternal in fantasy leagues and this could be an opportunity for underperforming De’Aaron Fox to turn things around. Among other things, we’ll be watching how Walton’s replacement handles the crowded backcourt rotation and Chimezie Metu’s role as the current starting PF.

The Kings started the season 5-4 before dropping four straight to the Pacers, Suns, Spurs, and Thunder. The Kings are currently in the midst of a 15-year playoff drought, the longest in the NBA, and for the second-consecutive year, he finds himself on the hot seat. Walton is guaranteed $11.5 million remaining on his contract for this season and next season, which could factor into the front office’s decision if things don’t turn around.

It is believed that De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton are locked into starting roles in the backcourt and Richaun Holmes is set to start at Center. Harrison Barnes should start, his position will depend on whether Walton decides to start Hield or Bagley. Hield would give the Kings more shooting and better spacing and would move Barnes to the starting power forward spot. Bagley would give the squad more size and rebounding and would push Barnes to the small forward spot. Walton reportedly plans to play with these lineup possibilities in preseason starting on Monday with a home matchup against the Phoenix Suns. “There’s a lot of things I want to keep throwing out there on the court and evaluating,” Walton said. “And whatever I decide to go with won’t be what I like. It will be more what I feel is going to give us the best chance of winning ball games.”

Sacramento has underperformed ever since Walton took over, and Walton’s system has been particularly bad for Buddy Hield, but management appears to be committed to him. No head coach is ever truly safe in the NBA, but it appears, for now, Sacramento will stick with him.

In their joint report, Sam Amick and Jason Jones write that Walton is not in “imminent danger” and should be safe “barring a complete nose-dive in the second half [of the season].” They identify five main reasons why Walton’s performance justifies his position, boiling down to player development and sporadic on-court success despite a flawed roster. The trade deadline may determine whether the 14-22 Kings can make an earnest playoff push, but win or lose it sounds like Walton will be pacing the sidelines.

It’s unclear which players are quarantining due to the coronavirus, but unlike the Blazers it doesn’t sound like Sacramento’s practice facility will be closed. Depending upon when the positive tests were received, the affected players could miss all of training camp and some of the preseason.

Walton was hired by Divac last summer, and with Vlade’s decision to step down it’s natural to wonder what that means for the head coach. The expectation in Sacramento is that Walton will be with the team in his current role next season, and he’ll have the opportunity to prove himself to the new general manager.

Joe Dumars, who served in an advisory role under Divac, will now take over as the interim GM and help the team find their next general manager. The 2020 NBA Draft is scheduled for October 16, so it would make sense to put a new GM in place by then, but this Sacramento franchise isn’t exactly known for always making the wisest decisions. There are some conflicting reports about how safe Luke Walton is in his head coaching role, but given the obvious step back the club took this season, he has to be feeling nervous.

Walton will be reevaluated today. If Karl Malone retires, Walton’s unselfish play could make him an important member of the new Lakers.