Lakers Rumors: LeBron James’ camp reportedly “prefers a coaching change”!

Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors involve head coach Luke Walton, as LeBron James’ camp reportedly wants a coaching change. We break it all down here!

Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors shouldn’t surprise anyone. Stop me if you have heard this a time or two in the 16 years that LeBron James has played in the NBA…

There are rampant rumors around the NBA about a coaching change on a LeBron James team with his name attached all over it. Nothing new right? Outside of the Miami Heat, who stuck by Erik Spoelstra, numerous coaches have been fired for various reasons.

This was a point of emphasis that had to be looked at the second LeBron James signed his four-year, $154 million dollar contract in the offseason. Since then, the paradigm of the Lakers future leading into the season has comparisons to walking a tightrope. Plans that seemed so great in the earlier stages have not panned out and theories that sounded great in the media now have a slim chance of happening.

Like LeBron James practicing patience after going to the NBA Finals eight years in a row! You had to know he would get impatient when things got rocky.

It’s not like he practiced patience when things were good, remember?

Many fans have debated if the LeBron James “Coach Killer” moniker is fair or not, but we can all push our chips in and see if LeBron James has earned his well-known reputation for sending coaches to the unemployment line!

Hey Luke Walton! Can you step forward, please?

To be clear here, Walton’s job security has been the centerpiece of the hottest Lakers rumors since the season started. It started with a 2-5 start that got a meeting with Magic Johnson that got heated. After a major run that got the team as high as the 4th seed, the Golden State Warriors win on Christmas Day turned everything upside down!

LeBron James suffered a groin injury that has kept him out of the lineup but not of the news we see.

On the “Brian Windhorst & Hoop Collective”  podcast, Jackie MacMullan of ESPN stated that there are rumblings in LeBron James’ camp that they want a new head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers and according to Jackie and Brian Windhorst, who basically can place his bio next to James co-signed in my opinion. Here are the quotes…

"MacMullan: “There’s a lot of tension in that building. A lot of tension in that building, and I think people are wondering about Luke Walton even though Jeanie Buss came out very strongly and said ‘I want Luke to be here, I back him 100 percent,’ but then also made the point that has to be made, and that’s that she hired Earvin Magic Johnson to make these decisions, and if Earvin feels differently she gave him the power to make those kinds of decisions. It’s clear to me, and probably to you Brian, that LeBron’s camp would prefer a coaching change. They’re not too subtle about that.” Windhorst: “LeBron publicly hasn’t talked publicly in a month.” MacMullan: “Not LeBron, but all the people around LeBron, and they’ve made it known. I don’t think this a shock, is it? For me to say this?” Windhorst “That’s a fair thing to say. That’s a fair thing to say.”"

Before we go any further, let’s get the narrative of “Oh this was not coming from LeBron James reportedly, it’s just from his camp” out of the way quickly because it makes no sense.

If LeBron James really wanted Luke Walton as his coach, he would strongly support him in this difficult time while he was out. Then, the person in his camp that released this “rumor” out to credible members on the media such as Jackie MacMullan and Brian Windhorst both of ESPN would be gone.

That’s just common sense.

But it has set off a potential civil war in Laker land. Let’s look at all the players, shall we?

No, not Beyonce, Ms. Jeanie Buss! The owner and Luke Walton’s strongest supporter!

It is my strongest belief that the only reason that Luke Walton is on the sideline at this stage of the season is the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Jeanie Buss. Walton’s support system that he had at his disposal is all but disappeared the day Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka took over for the guys that hired him, Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss. We’ll get to those guys in a second.

Let’s allow Marc Stein in on the “open secret” going on in Laker Land. 

"It is also an open secret in Lakerland that Walton has the strongest possible backing from the owner Jeanie Buss. Even if the front office tandem of Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka held Walton responsible for the Lakers’ swoon and wanted to make an in-season change, Buss almost certainly would prevent such rashness."

Well, the rashness almost needed a 100 pounds of cold cream after the Lakers got humiliated by the Cleveland Cavaliers at home. I don’t care what anybody says about Luke Walton’s status for the rest of the year, a loss to the Chicago Bulls would have sealed the fate of Walton. It was ugly and in no way helping Walton’s cause but the Lakers won.

Then something happened! Luke Walton coached…I mean REALLY coached! The Lakers upset the Thunder on the road on national TV and pushed James Harden and the Houston Rockets to the limit in an overtime loss. Luke Walton gained a fan after getting ejected after Lonzo Ball got injured…ME!

Fast forward to Ms. Buss’ interview on Zach Lowe of ESPN’s podcast, “The Lowe Post”  on the franchise’s support of their head coach.

"“I can tell you right now, everyone, Magic, Rob, myself, everyone in the organization is behind Luke. There’s nothing more important to Earvin, to Magic — besides his family — than this Laker team. And we are doing everything we can to make sure that Luke is successful in his job. That’s our job. “I think he’s doing a terrific job. Given the injuries that we’ve had, it’s a challenge. People forget, like, he’s had two of our starters taken away from him. And they’ve won really important games on the road, proving what is possible even without LeBron. “It’s still difficult to lose the games you’re supposed to win when you’re at home to a sub-.500 team. It’s really hard to lose those games. But then you go out on the road and you get the wins over Oklahoma City, and these great teams in our conference that are where we want to be at the top of the conference, (and) I think that you can see that there is progress being made even without two of our starters. I think Luke’s done an impressive job.”"

I guess that’s a wrap! Article over, let me send this to the editor to check. One more question? Is Luke Walton safe though? 100 percent! He just is not going anywhere right?

"“You’re asking the wrong person. The vision has to come from Magic. From where I sit, from what I can tell you, every single thing that we’re doing, every single person in the organization is here to make Luke successful.”"

Oh well, I guess I have to keep going. Let’s see what Mr. Earvin Johnson has done over the past season.

Magic Johnson already has a vision reportedly of who he wants!

Ms. Buss’ conversation sends mixed messages even though smart money lands on her first quote. The confusion starts when she mentions the vision coming from Magic Johnson. He has already made that clear in the blowup that leaked to the media after the slow start.

"Johnson, president of basketball operations, shouted and cursed at Walton, according to multiple sources who weren’t authorized to speak publicly. He asked Walton what he was doing with the team, wanting to see an offensive system in place that had yet to be implemented. At one point he chided Walton for interrupting him."

His reported dissatisfaction with the assistant coaches among other things.

Stephen A. Smith via. NBC Sports.

"Magic Johnson is not satisfied with how they look defensively, and he thinks that Luke Walton needs a better coaching staff. Now, he’s not going to say that publicly, but I’m telling you what I know. Clearly, if Magic Johnson is telling you he wants a more-experienced staff, that’s a hint that you might need to take heed to and do it if you like coaching the Los Angeles Lakers."

Checking…no change in assistant coaches!

How strong does the message have to get when ESPN’s top insider has a network special laying out specifically what Johnson wants and the reason why he hasn’t gotten it yet.

Remember the “Woj and Lowe” report?

"”Since Magic has taken over, they had been hoping to get their own coach in at some point. We saw it play out in the meeting they had earlier in the year where Magic really went after Luke,” Wojnarowski said. “If they’re going to be able to go to Jeanie Buss and sell her on replacing Luke Walton, they better be trying to do it off a season where they missed the playoffs or off of a long losing streak. Because she has been fiercely loyal to Luke Walton. “That was her hire in every way, and so far she has kept management off of him. They’ve allowed Magic and Rob Pelinka to change everything there, they haven’t been able to touch Luke Walton.”"

Now, what do we have here? A conflict of interest! Don’t you wish you had a podcast like Zach Lowe’s right now? His podcast now entails more drama in Los Angeles that all of the Hollywood blockbusters combined!

If there is one thing that Magic Johnson wants back is the quote that Luke Walton’s job is safe through the season.

Well, let’s check the facts.

LeBron James has been out since Christmas…

Rajon Rondo just got back since Christmas…

Lonzo Ball is out for 4-6 weeks with a severe ankle injury…

The Lakers are out out the playoffs currently in the 9th slot after losing 10-15 games.

The Lakers have left the easy portion of the schedule behind and now they have the top 5 toughest schedules to finish the season.

Drastic enough?

Plus there are trade rumors are all over the place with everyone on the block except this guy…

LeBron James is on his way to causing chaos to yet another franchise!

LeBron James is not the best player in the world. Sorry, he is not. No matter what he says to the contrary, but I will tell you he is the most polarizing player in the world.

No, check that. In sports.

The construction of this roster was set up for disaster the second LeBron’s contract was put in the computer system.

Why? Two reasons!

One. The man wants to play with veterans that he trusts in crunch time and two, the franchise must do it at all costs.

Here’s the rub nobody has mentioned so I’ll do it here. The Lakers are building for the future. Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka spent 18 months clearing the books for flexibility for future moves. The plan is to get a superstar for the future when LeBron James slows down. Was Paul George supposed to be the guy? Sure, but sometimes things don’t work out. There will be no trades in the two weeks coming that will bring any players with extra years and salary coming back.

Look at Cleveland right now! The books are so bad from all the moves that James wanted to construct the roster that they are begging anyone to take J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson and those ridiculous contracts. For all of the complaints people have for Dan Gilbert, he had a blank check for three of the four years LeBron was there. I hope he is enjoying the NBA Finals trophy because he paid a really steep price.

The Lakers are not going to. Trust me.

He has a huge part in the Lakers struggles from the start. First off, he had to be committed to the defensive end. Something that he did not do at all at the beginning of the season and sparingly overall.

How about that playing off the ball plan the Lakers had during the offseason? Oh, that lasted about a month? He was back dominating the ball among other things.

Lakers Rumors: LeBron James ignoring calls from the sideline

The Lakers rumors have been in effect since Magic Johnson signed LeBron James in the offseason. Lakers rumors used to be about players. This one's different

Brian Windhorst’s take on the situation…

"The scouts also have noticed that when James is running the point, he rarely looks toward the bench to receive playcalls from coach Luke Walton. Even when he has seen them, the scouts say, he ignores them and runs the play he prefers. Walton has adjusted, and now when James is running the show, Walton will typically just let him call the game. This probably shouldn’t be considered a slight — it’s just James being James."

Well, coaches being shown the door applies in this narrative as well.

Now, this. You see there are very few options that the Lakers have in ways of trades based on the business plan of the Lakers front office. The young players are banged up in Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram‘s stock has fallen faster than the bitcoin!

No superstar for LeBron? Let’s go to the backup plan; change coaches!

Sure LeBron James will deny involvement in the rumor. He’ll say that it was people in his camp. Okay, but LeBron James is a businessman with an empire that is approaching a billion dollars. You don’t think that this guy knows what is going on at all times with his people?

You can see the passive aggressiveness with the rehab of his injury. More reports come from his agent Rich Paul than from Luke Walton at times. A huge red flag was when Paul told ESPN that LeBron James was not going on the last road trip. 

Then Luke Walton seemed out of the loop in this quote about his rehab before the last road trip.

"“He didn’t do the up-and-down stuff,” Walton said of James’ activity during the shootaround. “He did the half-court shooting and passing.” “[James] does a lot of [running] when we’re not here. I don’t know the [exact] amount of running he’s doing. I just know he seems to be in good spirits. He’s got another test tomorrow to get some more information on it.”"

Communication issues about injuries? You be the judge!

The young core is caught in the middle and their growth will be stunted for now!

There were many fans and some NBA purists that did not want LeBron James in Los Angeles. There was a fear that his presence would mess with the development of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma. They were right.

Sure, Luke Walton warned the players about the rumors affecting their play early.

"“We talked about that before the season even started,” Walton said. “So here’s the first (rumor). Let’s handle it as a group, not give it life and keep working on what we need to work on, and I thought we came out today and had a great practice. Players were engaged and involved, talking to each other about what needs to be done as well as the coaches, which is the type of environment and the type of culture we want. I think we’re in a good place.”"

That was early in the season when the rumors applied to Walton. Now every trade rumor involving Anthony Davis has them leaving town (like EVERY rumor).

These are 20 and 21-year-old guys trying to find their games in the NBA much less playing with a player that has a notorious reputation for manipulating franchises.

Now we get to watch the drama surrounding the Lakers through the trading deadline. If there is no big splash (I wouldn’t count on it!), look for LeBron James’ body language afterward. He will more than likely come back before the all-star break so he can play.

But after that, let’s see if he doesn’t start resting that “injury” if the Lakers continue to struggle!

The Los Angeles Lakers are now past the halfway point in their long journey through the NBA season. Lake Show Life will be there every step of the way. Continue to check in for Lakers news, previews and reviews.