LeBron James: Should Lakers SACK Luke Walton? Kobe Bryant has his say...
LOS ANGELES LAKERS legend Kobe Bryant has had his say on the future of head coach Luke Walton.
The Lakers were thumped by Minnesota Timberwolves last night - their fifth defeat in six matches without LeBron James - and fans have been calling for the head of their coach.
Walton came under pressure at the beginning of the campaign after his side got off to a rocky start.
New signing James slowly began to integrate into the team and he shot them as high as third in the Western Conference.
But since sustaining a Christmas Day injury against Golden State Warriors, James has had to watch on as his team slip to eighth in the table with a record of .525.
Bryant posted a cryptic message on Twitter last night which read: "thankunext."
And one Lakers fan replied: "Tell that to Luke Walton," indicating he wanted the boss gone.
But Bryant jumped to the defence of his former team-mate by calling for patience.
"Relax," Bryant responded.
"Entire squad is damn near out.
"Were playing pretty well before that #gethealthy #lakerfam."
Bryant was pointing to the fact the Lakers are going through an injury crisis as Rajon Rondo and Kyle Kuzma are also in the treatment room.
But once their key players return, Walton will be under mountains of pressure to produce results.
In the meantime, all eyes are on Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball to dig the Lakers out of a hole.
But Ball failed to score any points against the Timberwolves last night and he knows he must improve.
“We're down a lot of scorers right now,” he said.
“I've got to pick up that load. Obviously, I didn't' do it tonight. I got to pick it up tomorrow."