Despite the continued struggles of Sacramento Kings, coach Luke Walton is in no danger of losing his job, according to report from Sam Amick and Jason Jones of The Athletic.
The Kings (14-22) enter the All-Star break having lost eight of 10. They are currently in 13th place in the Western Conference. Still, Walton is in does not face “imminent danger” of being fired, the report noted.
Walton is owed $11.5 million over the next two seasons. Per the report, barring a “complete second-half nosedive,” Walton should last at least the rest of the year.
But losing generally leads to speculation, as does a change in management. Former Kings GM Vlade Divac, who hired Walton, is no longer with the club. Divac was replaced by Monte McNair.
All of it gave Walton reason to talk about his future earlier this week.
“I feel very confident in the fact that I have a great relationship with the front office, a partnership with them (McNair and assistant general managers Wes Wilcox and Ken Catanella), as far as where we’re at as a team, where we need to go and what it’s going to take to get there,” Walton said.
“The communication (with McNair) is something that has been very open and very constant, and I think that we both really enjoy working together and believe in each other.”
