Luke Walton is still the assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors as they fight to become back-to-back NBA champions, but next season he will be the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, basically starting from scratch. The Lakers needed to place in the top 3 of the draft lottery or their pick would go to the Phoenix Suns via the previous trade for Steve Nash. The Warriors decided to play a prank on their coach before he flies the coop.
Before lottery, Warriors PR czar Raymond Ridder texted Luke Walton that Lakers got 4th pick. Luke fell for the prank, now has last laugh.
— Bill Oram (@billoram) May 18, 2016
Luckily for Walton, the Lakers were able to keep their top-three protected pick as they won the No. 2 spot in the 2016 draft.
No. 2 pick, here we come! #GoLakers pic.twitter.com/o3WkbuHBvc
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) May 18, 2016
This upcoming draft is pretty weak and is considered a two-player draft with Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram being the most valuable. So landing the No. 2 pick is definitely a huge relief for more reasons than one.
Walton will also inherit a young core of players that includes D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson and more. They also have cap space to pick up a new star after the departure of Laker legend Kobe Bryant.
