With LeBron James all eyes will be back on the Los Angeles Lakers. Coach Luke Walton, who is expecting a crazy season, is also aware of this. Walton is looking forward to the difficult task.
“It will go completely mad, but it will also be great,” Walton told Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. “The whole city will be behind us, we’ll be on SportsCenter every day.”
Walton is also aware that the rashes in both directions will be extreme. “If we lose, it will be the end of the world. If we win, it’ll be wild. But no matter what happens, it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Walton also reported the day when it was perfect that LeBron James would join the Lakers. The coach spent the next eight hours on the phone talking to his father Bill, Kobe Bryant and also heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who coached LeBron in Miami for four years.
“He said I’d get another LeBron,” Walton told me about the conversation with Spo. “When he came to Miami, he hadn’t won a title yet, so he worked extremely hard. He said that I always have to be well prepared and work hard. Then I’ll have a good relationship with LeBron.”
James and his teams have always reached the NBA finals over the past eight years, while the Lakers are waiting for their first play-off appearance since 2013.