Luke Walton: Is it Time For The Lakers To Let Him Go?

by
Former Writers
March 3, 2019

Smashdown Sports News via Flickr

When the Lakers lost to the worst team in the NBA last night, the Phoenix Suns, it was surprising. Many would have figured that the win was a no-brainer. LeBron James versus a tanking team of 21-year olds? Piece of cake.

It wasn’t even close.

Then again, it was SORT OF close. A three-point game with 1:14 left is as close as it gets, but the score wasn’t important. It was the WAY the Lakers competed or, more accurately, DIDN’T compete.

The Puppy Has Died

I am an unapologetic LeBron hater. I’ll be honest about that.

Perhaps it’s because of how efficiently “The King” has ripped the heart out of my Raptors in the playoffs year after year. Perhaps it’s how he personally stole our franchise player Chris Bosh from us. Maybe it could be the perpetual underdog in me, but I actively root against him. He’s fun to hate.

But at the end of the Lakers-Suns game, there was a look in his eyes that was unfamiliar to many. He had simply given up.

That is why Luke Walton needs to go, and he needs to go quickly. When LeBron James, confidence incarnate, no longer believes it’s possible to win (against the worst team in the NBA), something needs to change.

A New Coach

A new coach, hell, a new INTERIM coach MIGHT wake the team up. New energy, a new approach, all that. In the final quarter of this NBA season, careers will rise and fall based on the final standings. These 20 or so remaining games will be the difference between some players getting new contracts for MILLIONS of dollars and some for nothing at all.

A new coach is the last card Magic Johnson has available to him. That’s the final deflection he has before people start looking at HIS work. (What you have done for me lately, Magic?)

When LeBron James missed two key free throws down the stretch of a game he NEEDED to win, it was like seeing your older brother cry for the first time. Your hero, the perfect athlete with the perfect life, one day gets dumped by his girlfriend. Nobody is perfect after all.

Occasionally when flying a little too close to the sun, there is the possibility of getting burned from time to time. And in the hot city of Los Angeles, it might be time to send Luke Walton out to surf.