Luke Walton hired as Los Angeles Lakers coach

The Los Angeles Lakers have hired former player and Golden State Warriors assistant Luke Walton as their next head coach, according to a report from NBA.com.

Walton, who played eight-plus seasons with the Lakers and won two championship rings playing under Phil Jackson, coached the Warriors for much of the first half of the 2015-16 season while Steve Kerr recovered from back surgery. He went 39-4 over that stretch, but NBA bylaws still credit that record to Kerr.

In Los Angeles, Walton replaces another former Laker in Byron Scott, who went 38-126 in two seasons and just couldn’t get the formula right with youngsters, not to mention dealt with a dramatic locker room during the final stretch of Kobe Bryant’s farewell season.

The good news is that Walton provides a fresh face with championship experience as a coach, having won a title with Golden State last year, so he could very well be the perfect man to usher in the next era of Lakers success.

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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports

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