Staying a Laker just one option for Walton
Luke Walton is a restricted free agent, meaning the Lakers can match any offer and keep him, which they might do since Phil Jackson is coaching the team again.
By Bruce Pascoe
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Luke Walton is a laid-back, volleyball-playing 25-year-old who lives in a gated Manhattan Beach, Calif., condominium and earned nearly $1 million over the past two years.
But even he questioned whether he was in the right place last season.
Walton, who finished his second year as a reserve forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, endured a season in which the usually proud Lakers finished at 34-48 and a full nine games off the pace for the Western Conference's final playoff spot.
There was no Shaquille O'Neal dominating the interior last season. There was no Phil Jackson running the triangle on the floor and infusing the locker room with Zen.
Rudy Tomjanovich coached the team to an above-.500 mark until he resigned in early February, but he did not use Walton in critical situations off the bench as Jackson did. Then, when Tomjanovich resigned in early February because of health reasons, the Lakers really fell apart.
Normally a playoff team, the Lakers won just two of their final 21 games.
"It was really tough," Walton said last weekend at McKale Center, during a skills camp for top high school prospects. Laker fans "aren't used to L.A. not being in the playoffs. They're not used to not being ahead of everybody. That was really tough."
Now, as a restricted free agent, Walton might have a chance to bail out if the Lakers do not match whatever he can command on the open market this month. But the return of Jackson as coach changed the dynamics, since Walton's heady, pass-first skills at forward are well-suited to the triangle offense.
"If I come back, playing the triangle is better," Walton said. "I've love to play with Phil again, but we'll see. I'm going to talk to some other teams and see what happens."
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has said he wants to re-sign Walton, and the Lakers have no other significant free agents, so there might be no choice if the Lakers match another offer. But Walton has nothing to lose by determining his market value this month, during the free agent shopping spree.
He could even join his good friend Richard Jefferson, a former UA teammate, on the New Jersey Nets, or go to another East Coast team.
"Everything's possible," Jefferson said. "The free agent market gets extremely crazy in the last month, and Luke understands the business, that everybody's going to be talking to all the major players.
"Especially for Luke, he's such a talented player and a great basketball mind. Higher teams are the ones that really want him, teams like Sacramento, Washington, the Lakers, us, the Knicks, Chicago … teams that would like to raise their basketball IQ. There's going to be a demand for him."
Drafted in the second round two years ago and paid just $366,931 in 2003-04 and $620,046 last season, Walton still does not have the statistics that might seem to command a big raise. He played an average of 12.4 minutes a game last season, averaging 3.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists.
But Walton's headiness, and the credentials he established as a key reserve under Jackson during his rookie year, give him additional value.
"People have to understand with the coaching change, he might not have fit into Rudy Tomjanovich's plans," Jefferson said. "His role was obviously different on that team. People also have to understand that Phil Jackson is one of the greatest coaches of all time, and he's playing Luke in the NBA Finals. He was obviously able to do something.
"I think there's a quite a few teams out there who think they can find a spot for him. The Lakers always have right of first refusal, but more power to Luke because he's going to get more money."
For now, Walton is hanging out in Tucson with Jefferson, with both of them living and goofing off at the home of former teammate John Ash. Walton and Jefferson will stay here through their July 18-21 basketball camp at McKale Center, and Walton may well know his future by the time he leaves town.
By the time he returns to that Manhattan Beach home, he could stay for another season or more with the Lakers. If they were able to pull Jackson back - a deal that did not shock Walton - who knows what else they will do?
"I would not be surprised with anything that happens in L.A.," Walton said. "It's always fun. There's always something going on."