Recent Lakers rumors are that management isn’t blaming Luke Walton for the recent struggles of the Los Angeles Lakers.
With the season about halfway over for the Los Angeles Lakers, recent Lakers rumors have been about the status of head coach, Luke Walton.
The Lakers got off to a strong start this season with their young core and LeBron James. Despite the new faces, the Lakers were able to gel quicker than many expected, and were performing like one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
In a big showdown with the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day, the Lakers were able to come away with a big road win. However, injuries sustained by LeBron James and Rajon Rondo in that game have hurt the Lakers a lot.
Since the win on Christmas, the Lakers have just one win, and the ugly losses are piling up. Despite the struggles, Ramon Shelburne is reporting that the Lakers management isn’t placing the blame solely on Walton.
Yes, those were a bad couple of losses by the Lakers. But with LeBron + scorers out w/ injuries, from what I gather this isn’t falling on Luke Walton as far as management is concerned.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 6, 2019
When a team with expectations like the Lakers struggle, it is easy to point fingers at the head coach. However, the Lakers were playing really well to finish 2018, and the injuries have been the main reason for their struggles of late.
However, with frustrating losses to the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves of late, it is understandable to see why people are upset. Unfortunately for the Lakers without James, Rondo and Kyle Kuzma, they simply just don’t have enough to compete.
Brandon Ingram doesn’t appear to be ready to be a 30-point scorer with those players out every night, and that certainly isn’t the game of Lonzo Ball. For the Lakers, they just simply need to get healthy at this point
Walton is only capable of doing so much with his rotations, and the talent just clearly isn’t there without three key players. Sadly with high expectations comes quick judgments, and the Lakers have been in a free-fall since the injuries. The Lakers were playing well prior to the injuries. Furthermore, it appears like management does realize this and the blame isn’t going on Walton.