The Los Angeles Lakers are back in the spotlight following the offseason addition of LeBron James, and so far, the early returns haven’t exactly been stellar. The team is 3-5 at this early juncture in the 2018-19 season, which isn’t a major surprise, because the expectation was that the team would go through some early growing pains. This was both because of the additions of James and a number of other veterans, and because so much of the hopes in Los Angeles this year ride on the development of young players.
Still, expecting to go through growing pains and actually going through them are two very different things. As a result, there might be some pressure on head coach Luke Walton to start winning sooner rather than later.
According to a report by Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin of ESPN, Walton and president of basketball operations Magic Johnson met earlier this week following the Lakers dropping two games in a row on the road. The meeting sent a message to the head coach: Win now or there might be problems on the horizon.
Despite Johnson’s prior proclamations of needing to allow time for Walton to develop a young roster surrounding four-time MVP LeBron James, evidence is mounting that Walton’s job security ultimately depends upon his ability to significantly improve upon a 3-5 to start the season.
Johnson’s aggressive meeting tone circulated to individuals throughout the organization, including to principal owner Jeanie Buss, league sources said. Throughout his tenure with the Lakers, Johnson has earned an internal reputation for an often-time volatile management style, including with his handling of Walton and the coaching staff, sources said.
Sure, the team said all the right things about patience and playing the long game, but this is the Lakers we’re talking about. Expectations are high in Los Angeles, something that Johnson understands better than anyone else on earth. Add in that there’s a perpetual expectation — whether fair or not — that the Lakers should be a title contender and it’s not hard to have seen this coming at the first sign of trouble.
What’s fascinating, of course, is what happens next. Los Angeles has Friday off before a back-to-back that includes a trip to Portland and a home tilt against the Raptors. It’s not hard at all to see the Lakers losing both of those games and falling to 3-7 on the year, at which point it might not be hard to see Johnson’s words about needing to win as soon as possible leading to action.
(Via ESPN)
