Tyler Kaufman/Associated Press
The 2018-19 Los Angeles Lakers season took another incredible turn Tuesday when Magic Johnson stepped down as the team’s president of basketball operations. Before the news broke, the Lakers coaching staff reportedly expected to be fired.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the coaching news, noting the members of the staff “believed they were gone for months.”
Wojnarowski added more context:
Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn
Luke Walton has two years left on his contract, but only next season is guaranteed, per source. Lakers hold option on 2020-21 season. Johnson planned to fire him, but stumbled into his own resignation on the way. Somehow, Walton survived Magic Johnson. He didn’t see that coming.
Johnson didn’t inform Lakers owner Jeanie Buss of his decision to step down and instead elected to hold a press conference, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“Somebody’s going to have to tell my boss because I knew I couldn’t be face-to-face and tell her. … I couldn’t stand to tell her,” he said, per Bill Oram of The Athletic.
NBA TV @NBATV
BREAKING: Magic Johnson has stepped down as Lakers’ President of Basketball Operations. https://t.co/yrHkguOO02
Earlier Tuesday, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported on The Jump that Johnson and head coach Luke Walton hadn’t spoken for weeks:
Rachel Nichols @Rachel__Nichols
I opened #TheJump noting how so many of the Lakers’ issues have zero to do with Luke Walton, so whether they fire him or not, they can’t expect change until they face their deeper truths. Then @RamonaShelburne reported Magic hasn’t spoken to Luke in weeks, and everyone went nuts: https://t.co/fDgJaIKs3C
“No. No anxiety,” Walton said when asked about whether he was worried about his job status entering the final game of the season, per McMenamin. “But call me later tonight and maybe that answer will be different.”
To Walton’s credit, the Lakers have improved slightly in each of his three seasons as head coach. They were 26-56 in 2016-17, 35-47 last season and are 37-44 this season in spite of injuries to LeBron James, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram and the will-they-or-won’t-they Anthony Davis trade drama that dominated headlines for an extended stretch leading up to the trade deadline.
The future of the franchise is now up in the air after Johnson’s decision, but it’s unclear whether the news changes the fate of the coaching staff.
Since Johnson reportedly wasn’t even speaking to Walton before his surprising announcement, it appears as though Walton may have a better chance of lasting beyond this season.
from Update News Topic http://bit.ly/2UEsKmo
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