Luke Walton: Final Games About Lakers ‘Building Momentum’ Heading Into Summer
Lakers News And Rumors Recap: Los Angeles Continues To Impress
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

With only 11 games remaining this season and the Los Angeles Lakers far out of playoff contention, it can be difficult for head coach Luke Walton to keep his team motivated. Despite their record however, Walton understands the importance of this final stretch.

Walton has been on both sides of the coin, as a playoff contender and a team whose season is set to end. According to Mark Medina of the LA Daily News, Walton believes his team needs to build momentum heading into the offseason:

“When you’re on a playoff team, it’s about getting sharp. Your messaging and reasoning for coming to those games is really locking in and getting your game to where it needs to be to start the playoffs. That’s obviously not the purpose and reasoning we have right now,” Walton said. “For us, it’s all about building momentum into the offseason. We want to end on a positive note. We want to be excited to go into the offseason and work and everyone gets better.”

Walton’s reasoning is understandable. If the Lakers play well and possibly even when a couple of games down the stretch of the season it could give his young players confidence heading into an extremely important offseason. If they see that they are improving and getting closer to their goal of contention, it will only make them work harder over the summer.

The fate of the Lakers draft pick depends on the Lakers losing as much as possible of course, but that isn’t Walton or the players’ job to worry about that as their job is to go out and win games. Regardless, this upcoming offseason will be very important for the future of the franchise.

These final games basically serve as an audition for a lot of players on this roster, which should be motivation enough. But for Walton, the possibility of gaining momentum, and his players pushing even harder this summer, is something that he wants to take advantage of.

You May Also Like

Lakers News: LeBron James & ‘The Shop’ Returning With Alternate Broadcast For Amazon’s Thursday Night Football

Los Angeles Lakers fans have been waiting anxiously to see how the new pieces fit around LeBron James and Anthony Davis…

Lakers News: Kyle Kuzma Feels It’s His Responsibility To Bring Lonzo Ball ‘Back Down To Life’

Anyone who followed the Los Angeles Lakers this season witnessed the on- and off-court chemistry between rookies…

Lakers Rumors: L.A. Maintains Brandon Ingram ‘Not Available’ In Trade Talks

The Los Angeles Lakers appear to think very highly of small forward Brandon Ingram…

Lakers News: Kobe Bryant Reveled In Making Playoff Guarantee During 2012-13 Season

Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant managed to get the absolute most out of his athletic talent thanks to his…