Lakers Rumors: Magic Johnson Was ‘Angry’ In Meeting, But Luke Walton ‘Not In Danger’ Of Being Fired

Dan Duangdao
2 Min Read

It only took eight games into the 2018-19 NBA season before Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson met with head coach Luke Walton to discuss the direction of the team.

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Since Johnson reportedly ‘admonished’ Walton for the team’s 3-5 start, the latter addressed the report and does not believe he is in danger of losing his job.

Since the Western Conference is unforgiving, there appears to be a sense of urgency to win now instead of being patient as the Lakers work to build chemistry.

As for Walton, despite the contentious meeting, the Lakers aren’t near making a coaching change, according to Tania Ganguli and Brad Turner of the L.A. Times:

When James signed a four-year, $154 million deal in free agency, there were immediate championship expectations regardless of the situation. However, the reality is Walton has eight new players to integrate and the young core is learning on the fly.

As the Lakers are preparing for the Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors this weekend, it will be interesting to see how they all respond amid the report.

After struggling with defense and rebounding, the Lakers were able to clean these two areas up against the Dallas Mavericks. Unfortunately, they were not able to close out the game properly and nearly lost at the buzzer despite a double-digit lead late in the fourth quarter.

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Dan Duangdao was the managing editor at Lakers Nation (2013-16, 2018-20). He is currently the founder at LA Sports Media, Lake Show, Raiders Nation, Rams Nation, Kings Nation, Galaxy Nation, and MMA Rumors. Born and raised in Southern California and a lifelong Los Angeles sports and mixed martial arts fan, his first NBA game was Kobe Bryant and the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors with Michael Jordan in attendance during the 1998-99 NBA season. He was previously a contributor at HOOPSWORLD (now Basketball Insiders) and an NBA editor at ClutchPoints. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @DanDuangdao.
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