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What's the story?
According to some reports, the Los Angeles Lakers apparently do not have 'unconditional support' for their head coach Luke Walton and there might be other names lingering in the minds of the organization.
In case you didn't know...
LeBron James took to Twitter to show his discontent with the firing of David Fizzdale.
The heart of the matter...
The Lakers experienced a terrible 9-game losing streak as they hit the bottom of the table in the West. Since then, they have won 3 in a row to end their five-game homestand. Just as the situation seemed to have stabilized a bit, Brian Windhorst of ESPN rocked the boat once again as he joined The Rich Eisen Show to talk about the coaching situation in Los Angeles.
"Whatever you want to say about LaVar Ball, he has smoked out the fact that the Lakers do not support Luke Walton. That is now crystal clear, and there are now guys out there wondering openly to me — executives, coaching agents — wondering who the Lakers are going to hire as their next coach. That has been revealed here, that they do not have unconditional support for Luke,” Windhorst said.
Windhorst further reported that former Memphis Grizzlies head coach, David Fizdale, might be on the Lakers' radar.
“You want to know what people are saying behind the scenes? You want to know what they’re saying? What coach has LeBron tweeted about most recently? What coach got fired this year and LeBron tweeted about him? Los Angeles native David Fizdale. This may not be true, the Lakers may intend to keep [Luke], but what I’m telling is the way the events have gone down, I’ve got executives in my ear, I have agents in my ear saying ‘Oh yeah they’re probably going to hire David Fizdale,’” Windhorst said.
What's next?
The Lakers play the 12th seeded Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.
Author's take
Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have been incredibly supportive of Walton since taking over the front office. They have not come out in complete support of him, with respect to the LaVar Ball statement but that could also be to get rid of the matter as soon as possible. They have been happy with the internal progress of the team and it would be surprising if they decide to fire Luke Walton.
