Luke Walton thought his tenure as Los Angeles Lakers head coach was off to a bad start before even beginning.
The Warriors assistant, who will take over the Lakers at season’s end, was busy Tuesday preparing Golden State’s Western Conference finals Game 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and apparently couldn’t keep up with the NBA draft lottery. So a Warriors public relations executive thought it’d be funny to tell Walton his first obstacle as Lakers head coach would be not having a draft pick.
Before lottery, Warriors PR czar Raymond Ridder texted Luke Walton that Lakers got 4th pick. Luke fell for the prank, now has last laugh.
— Bill Oram (@billoram) May 18, 2016
Had the Lakers fallen out of the top three, their pick would have gone to the Philadelphia 76ers as a condition of the Steve Nash trade in 2012. However, L.A. got the second pick, so Walton will have an easier go in his new role.
With a chance to win another NBA Finals and now having the No. 2 pick, though, we’re not sure Walton could have been very mad about this prank.
Thumbnail photo via Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports Images
