Lakers news: Luke Walton under pressure because of LeBron James - pundit
LOS ANGELES LAKERS head coach Luke Walton is under huge pressure to get his team performing because of the arrival of LeBron James, says ESPN pundits Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe.
James was the biggest trade story of the summer as he swapped Cleveland Cavaliers to pen a four-year deal with the Lakers.
The small forward was unable to prevent his side falling to an opening-day defeat to Portland Trail Blazers last night.
However, James showed glimpses of his quality with a performance that included two thunderous dunks.
But Wojnarowski worries if the team is struggling by the mid-season then the Lakers hierarchy could have a big decision to make.
“Everybody is going to be watching the Lakers this year, they are the biggest story in the league,” Wojnarowski told The Woj Pod.
“The minute the Lakers are five and seven, the Luke Walton speculation is going to start.
“The lesson that they should take from the Heat is that the Heat stood by [Erik] Spoelstra.
“If you have a young coach, is a worker and going to be a good coach, you have to withstand that pressure, whatever that pressure is.
“If you fire a good young coach like that and you don’t have a plan then you just become the Magic, where you’re on your fifth coach in five years.
“I am fascinated to see how disciplined the Lakers are. Maybe LeBron doesn’t care, maybe there won’t be any pressure at all.
“But if it’s January and LeBron starts to get itchy and things are not as good as he hopes, then everything he says now about patience might not turn out to mean anything.
“If you think Luke Walton is good, you got to be very careful.”
Meanwhile, fellow pundit Lowe reckons Walton will feel the brunt of any poor performances.
“We know where the blame will go and LeBron is not going to get the blame and he is not going to take it on,” Lowe said.
“It is going to be the coach, the team-mates, there’ll be a succession of scapegoats.
“Or maybe there won’t be any. I’m optimistic about every young player on the Lakers.”