Luke Walton Fumes After LeBron James’ First Win Since Cavs Switch

LeBron James had his first win with the Los Angeles Lakers, and head coach Luke Walton is not happy about it. You may agree with him once you get to know his reasons for feeling this way.

LeBron played 16 minutes in the Lakers third preseason outing, and scored 18 points. The Lakers beat Sacramento Kings, and this was the first win since the defeat by Denver Nuggets.

The team worked on three key areas for the game against the Kings, but Walton’s frustration came from a different source. It seems like the coach could not cope with the idea that his guys did not put their training into action.

“We’ve got to get better. Three thing we talked about before games: screening, we talked about not turning the ball over and not fouling. And – we were not good at any of those tonight. We have to get a lot better in this week or however long we’ve got left until the start of the season,” Walton said.

Although the head coach was critical of the Lakers defense, he singled out shooting guard Josh Hart for individual praise.

“Josh has been great. He really has. It is good to see, because he came in, and the season ended, and we gave everyone their time off, and he came into the gym and started working and working and lifting and came to me and said, ‘Coach, I want to play all of summer league, I want to play Sacramento and [Las] Vegas, every game.’ So he did that, went out and won [summer league] MVP and took a couple of days off and came right back and started working again. So anytime someone’s having success that has put in the work that Josh has put in, it’s good to see,” Walton added.

LeBron praised Brandon Ingram after scoring 31 points. “I thought he was great. His place, his ability to play the point and play the wing, he’s a very special talent, and we’re definitely happy to have him on our side,” King James said.