1. Luke Walton
It is a bit surprising that Luke Walton is still the head coach of the Sacramento Kings. At this point, the pandemic may be the only thing that has kept Walton employed with the Kings.
According to The Athletic, Walton does not have a stretch provision in his contract should he be fired. That means the Kings would be on the hook for the $11.5 million they owe him without being able to stretch it out over several years. After reportedly losing just about $110 million during the pandemic, firing Walton just isn’t feasible.
Despite that, Walton still has the hottest seat currently in the NBA. He has put together back-to-back 31-41 seasons as the Kings have now missed the playoffs in 15 consecutive years.
An appearance in the NBA Play-In Tournament might buy Walton one more season, especially if the Kings cannot afford to fire him and essentially pay two head coaches. But, if money isn’t a deciding factor, it is hard to imagine anything short of ending that playoff drought would convince the Kings to bring Walton back.
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Owner Vivek Ranadive has had a quick trigger with personnel in the past that have failed to meet the goals, however unrealistic, that he has put forth for the organization.
If he hasn’t already, any goodwill that Walton built during his stint filling in for Steve Kerr as head coach of the Golden State Warriors, when he went 39-4 on an interim basis, is gone.
