This past offseason the Los Angeles Lakers decide to fire one former Lakers player, head coach Byron Scott, and hired another former Laker in Luke Walton.
Walton spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors and head coach Steve Kerr, winning an NBA Championship in 2015.
Kerr missed the first half of the 2015-16 season with an illness, and Walton filled in for him as the interim head coach and got the Warriors of to the best start in NBA history, winning 24 straight games to begin the season, and overall going 39-4 as a head coach.
Walton and Kerr had a very good relationship, as Walton has cited on multiple occasions, as Walton has credited Kerr for preparing him to be an NBA head coach.
In his first season as a head coach, Walton will face a tough task, though, as the Lakers do not have the talent that the Warriors have as the Lakers were a franchise worst 17-65. He has got them off to a solid start in the preseason though as despite a 2-3 record the Lakers have competed and improved in every game.
They faced their toughest task yet Saturday evening though as they will take on Kerr’s Warriors at the T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas. According to Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News, Kerr said he will sit two of his top bench players in the game, Andre Iguodala and David West, to give Walton an opportunity to better prepare for the Warriors who won an NBA record 73 games last season:
Steve Kerr announces no Iguodala/West vs Lakers because "I want to give Luke (Walton) every opportunity to prepare for tomorrow's clash"
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 14, 2016
Iguodala, who was named the Finals MVP in 2015 and an All-Star in 2011-12, averaged 7.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.4 assists last season.
West, a two-time All-Star, averaged 7.1 points and 4.0 rebounds in limited minutes last season with the San Antonio Spurs.
While both players are in the latter parts of the career, they both provide veteran experience off the bench for a Warriors team that figures to again be the best team in the league this season.