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Walton Chosen as Next Head Coach Friday, April 29 The Lakers announced Golden State Warriors assistant Luke Walton has been named the next head coach. Howard Beck and Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report initially reported the news.
On April 27, Walton was given permission by Warriors head coach Steve Kerr to speak with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak once the team's series against the Houston Rockets had concluded, per Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group.
Chris Mannix of The Vertical reported on April 25 that the Lakers are "lockstep on whom they want," with Walton "an obvious choice." Mannix noted Walton "has strong ties to the franchise and is fresh off the most successful fill-in head coaching stint in NBA history."
On Sunday, Wojnarowski reported Walton was among the candidates on the Lakers' short list.
Ollie Denied Interest in Lakers Job Friday, April 29 “Basically [Kevin] Ollie, he’s texted me before 9:00 every day this week,” 2016 recruit Christian Vital said, per Evan Daniels of Scout.com. “Just letting me know about the Lakers situation and that he loves me and he’s staying at UConn. That really means something to me, to have that kind of relationship with the head coach, knowing he has a million things to do.”
Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (via the San Bernardino Sun) first reported Ollie could be interested on April 25.
Medina reported the Lakers would not need to seek permission to interview Ollie, although doing so is seen as a "common courtesy." However, there are issues with Ollie's contract if the Lakers would have chosen to hire him, per Medina...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
