Steve Kerr is coming into this NBA season with high expectations and it’s only his first year as an NBA head coach. The Warriors wanted to surround Kerr with plenty of experience on his coaching staff and so far they have done a masterful job. They have been able to steal Alvin Gentry from the Clippers and Ron Adams from the Celtics. Both are NBA coaching veterans and considered some of the best assistants in the league.
With the coaching staff filled with years of experience, Kerr and the Warriors could be looking into inserting some youth into the current coaching staff. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Kerr could be bringing in Luke Walton to become part of the Warriors ‘coaching staff:
Golden State’s Steve Kerr is discussing an assistant coaching job on his staff with Luke Walton, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 30, 2014
Walton has been out of the league since the 2012-13 season and won two championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. Walton has long been considered one of the smartest players in the league and many expected him to enter the coaching ranks after his career came to end. It had been rumored that Walton was interested in joining his former teammate Derek Fisher with the New York Knicks, but it looks like Kerr might have convinced him otherwise.
Both Walton and Kerr are Arizona products, which could explain Walton’s decision to join the Warriors. Walton had the privilege of learning from Phil Jackson during his playing career and over the years he quickly became one of Jackson’s favorite players. Jackson himself acknowledged that Walton would become a good coach after his playing days were over, a great endorsement from arguably the greatest coach of all time.