How Luke Walton Contributed to Two of the Greatest Dynasties in the NBA
Learn about the current Detroit Pistons lead assistant coach Luke Walton and how he was able to play a role with Kobe's Lakers and Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors.
Luke Walton is currently the lead assistant coach under J.B. Bickerstaff for the Detroit Pistons. Walton has previously served as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, where he won 1 championship under Steve Kerr. He also served as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings.
Prior to coaching, Walton played in the NBA for 9 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers. He is also the son of the late Bill Walton, who is a 2x NBA champion and Portland Trail Blazers legend.
In this article, you‘ll learn about Luke Walton’s coaching tenure, his coaching philosophy, and how he was part of two of the greatest dynasties in the history of the NBA.
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Before Coaching
Luke Walton was born March 28, 1980, in San Diego, California, his father was Bill Walton, a MVP, 2x All-Star, and 2x champion with the Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics. Luke was named after Bill’s Blazers teammate and close friend Maurice Lucas, who passed away October 31, 2010.
Following his father’s footsteps, Luke played basketball at the Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego, later pursuing a college basketball career with the University of Arizona’s Wildcats men's basketball team. He was named second-team All-American and was a two-time first-team all-conference selection in the Pac-10.
Walton’s work had paid off as he was drafted to the Los Angeles Lakers with the 32nd overall pick in the second round of the 2003 draft. He had the honor being coached by Phil Jackson, Jim Cleamons, Frank Hamblen, and Tex Winter, the 4 coaches who were behind the Chicago Bulls dynasty and developing Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
In his rookie year, he played with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, and Gary Payton. He was the team’s starting small forward for the 2006-2007 season and made 3 straight finals runs from 2008-2010 with the team. The Lakers lost to the Celtics in 6 games in the 2008 finals, however the Lakers would win championships in 2009 and 2010.
Walton was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2012, where he would play his final season before retiring. He finished his playing career with 2 championships, the same number of championships his father won.
Memphis Tigers (2011)
Walton got his first coaching job with the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team of the University of Memphis during the lockout of the 2011-2012 NBA season. He was an assistant coach under head coach Josh Pastner, who was his assistant coach in Arizona. Walton would remain with the team until the NBA lockout ended on December 8, 2011.
Notably on that Tigers roster was Will Barton, who’s currently a 13-year NBA veteran.
Los Angeles D-Fenders (2013-2014)
After retiring as a player, Walton officially started his NBA coaching career as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the D-League affiliation of the Los Angeles Lakers. The team is now known as the South Bay Lakers under the G-League.
Golden State Warriors (2014-2016)
Walton was hired on rookie head coach Steve Kerr’s staff in 2014. Walton had empathized that parts of the triangle offense would be implemented into the Warriors system. Walton and Kerr had been coached under Phil Jackson and Tex Winter during their playing careers with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers respectively.
In their first year, the Golden State Warriors won their first championship against LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers in 6 games. This marked the first championship under the Steve Kerr & Stephen Curry Era.
The following season, lead assistant coach Alvin Gentry accepted the New Orleans Pelicans head coaching position, Coach Walton was named the lead assistant. During training camp, Steve Kerr underwent back surgery after dealing with discomfort during the 2015 finals, resulting in Luke Walton being named the interim head coach until further notice.
Coach Walton won his debut head coaching game against the Pelicans, ironically coached by the former warriors assistant Alvin Gentry. Three games later, the Warriors defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 119-69, marking the third-largest margin of victory in franchise history. This was also the largest margin in the league since 1991.
The Warriors set a new NBA record by winning their first four games by a total margin of 100 points. After their win over the Los Angeles Lakers on November 24, the Warriors set another record of 16th consecutive victories to start a season.
Coach Walton won the Western Conference Coach of the Month for games won in October and November, the team‘s record stood at 19-0 at the time. Despite not being eligible to receive the award as an interim, Walton was considered “winless” as the wins were credited to Steve Kerr.
After losing to the Milwaukee Bucks on December 12, 2015, The Warriors ended their 24-0 winning streak and 28 overall winning streak from games counted in the previous season, which was the second largest streak in NBA history. When Coach Kerr returned, the Warriors had a record of 39-4, the second-best start to a season in NBA history.
As the 2015-2016 regular season came to a close, the Warriors finished 73-9, the best regular season record in NBA history. Coach Kerr won the Coach of the Year award as the wins accumulated by Walton were credited to Kerr due to NBA rules. However, Walton finished ninth in the voting, receiving one second place and two third-place votes and was honored by Kerr during his acceptance of the award.
The Warriors reached the finals for a second time in a row, facing LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers once again. The Warriors held a 3-1 lead in the series, which later resulted in Cavaliers making history of their own and becoming the first team in NBA history to win the NBA finals after being down 1-3.
Throughout Walton‘s tenure with the Warriors, he notably coached Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, David Lee, and Andrew Bogut.
Los Angeles Lakers (2016-2019)
The Los Angeles Lakers hired Luke Walton to be their head coach on April 29, 2016, shortly after the Warriors season ended. He would be replacing Byron Scott who finished with a record of 17–65 in Kobe Bryant’s last year before retirement.
On the 11th anniversary of Bryant's legendary 81–point game on January 22, 2017, the Lakers lost by 49 points to the Dallas Mavericks 122–73 marking this as the worst loss ever in franchise history.
General Manager Mitch Kupchak Was fired on February 21, 2017, and was replaced by Rob Pelinka, a sports agent who represented Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. Magic Johnson was also hired as the president of basketball operations.
In Walton’s first season, the Lakers finished 26–56, a small improvement from the previous season (17-65).
In his second season, the Lakers finished 35–47, another improvement, but not enough to qualify for the playoffs.
LeBron James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2018, increasing the pressure of Walton’s third season. The team started the season 2-5, Magic Johnson wanted to see better results immediately. The Lakers were 20-14 after a Christmas Day victory against Golden State, however LeBron James and Rajon Rondo suffered injuries during the game. The team wasn’t fully able to adjust to the injuries, Coach Walton used 25 different starting lineups throughout the season.
Magic Johnson resigned from his position to avoid conflict with ownership, as one of his biggest decisions was to fire Coach Walton, however the ownership didn’t share the same point of view at that time.
He finished his head coaching tenure with the Lakers with a record of 98–148.
In 3 years of being the head coach of the Lakers, Walton notably coached D'Angelo Russell, Luol Deng, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram, Nick Young, Ivica Zubac, Larry Nance Jr, former teammate Metta Sandiford-Artest, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Josh Hart, Brook Lopez, Andre Ingram, Thomas Bryant, Alex Caruso, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, and LeBron James.
Sacramento Kings (2019-2022)
Coach Walton was then hired as the head coach of the Sacramento Kings, the team’s 5th head coach in 7 seasons. In his first season, the NBA temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but later finished 31–41, 12th place in the western conference.
The following season, the team drafted Tyrese Haliburton with the twelfth pick in the 2020 draft. Walton reunited with Alvin Gentry, who was fired from the Pelicans earlier that summer. The team once again finished 31-41, except this time in 13th place in the conference. Haliburton finished 3rd in voting for Rookie of the Year.
In Walton’s third season, after starting 6-11, he was fired and coach Gentry was named the interim for the remainder of the season. Walton finished his Kings head coaching tenure with a record of 68-93. The Kings would not make the playoffs until 2023 under Mike Brown, after 16 seasons without a playoff appearance.
In 3 years as the Kings head coach, Walton notably coached De'Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Nemanja Bjelica, Marvin Bagley, Terance Davis, Delon Wright, Hassan Whiteside, Tyrese Haliburton, Davion Mitchell, and reunited with former warriors forward Harrison Barnes.
Cleveland Cavaliers (2022-2024)
Coach Walton was hired as an assistant coach under J.B. Bickerstaff to assist with their offense. In his first season as an assistant coach, the Cavaliers reached the playoffs for the first time since 2018, however they were eliminated in the first round against the New York Knicks in 5 games. The Cavaliers reached the playoffs again in 2024, reaching the semi-finals, but lost to the Celtics in 5 games, who eventually became NBA champions that season.
Walton notably coached Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Ricky Rubio, Issac Okoro, Caris LeVert, Max Strus, and Tristian Thompson.
Detroit Pistons (2024-)
Walton followed Bickerstaff to Detroit and was named the lead assistant coach of the Pistons in 2024.
He served as the acting head coach on January 25, 2025, after Coach Bickerstaff was ejected during the 4th quarter against the Orlando Magic. The Pistons lost 121-123.
Coaching Philosophy
Coach Walton credits his Arizona State head coach Lute Olson for teaching him the fundamentals of basketball. He played under Phil Jackson while playing for the Lakers, which consisted of the triangle system, it was also used in Steve Kerr‘s system during his Golden State Warriors tenure when Walton was an assistant coach.
He also adds that he keeps a “open mind” as the game is always changing and that learning from each experience is something he’s been doing throughout so far in his coaching career.
Coach Walton has worked with wings, forwards, and big men throughout his coaching career, most likely to the fact that he was a small and power forward during his own playing career.
Luke Walton had the honor of playing alongside Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal amongst many other significant Lakers players, winning 2 championships just like his Father Bill. Walton has built himself a steady coaching career with another championship as an assistant in Golden State and continues to be an influence in the NBA wherever he goes.