NBA: 5 Teams That Should Hire Luke Walton As Head Coach

Dec 6, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Golden State Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton during the first half against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 6, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Golden State Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton during the first half against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports /
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Luke Walton has emerged as one of the NBA’s top head coaching candidates due to his success as the Golden State Warriors interim head coach, but where should he go? Here are five teams that should hire him.

Dec 6, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Golden State Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton during the first half against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 6, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Golden State Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton during the first half against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports /

Luke Walton has emerged as one of the NBA’s top head coaching candidates due to his success as the Golden State Warriors interim head coach. He led the Warriors to a 39-4 record while head coach Steve Kerr was recovering from a second back injury.

The 39-4 record is the best record by any NBA team through the first 43 games of a season. That includes a 19-0 home record at Oracle Arena.

Walton, 35, would become the youngest active head coach in the NBA, assuming that nobody younger than him is hired. He has learned from some of the league’s best coaches in recent years. It started in his playing days under Phil Jackson, Mike Brown and Byron Scott during his days with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers, then learning under Kerr, who learned a lot from San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.

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That begs the question, what teams are going to be interested in hiring Walton? Ideally all teams with an open coaching position should be interested in Walton’s coaching services. However, that may not be the case.

Walton will also have to deal with free agent head coaches David Blatt and Tom Thibodeau, who will also be highly pursued. He will also be competing with coaches from the college ranks. Kentucky’s John Calipari, Kansas’ Bill Self, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo have all been interested in NBA coaching jobs at some point and could be targeted again. These coaches and other sleeper college coaches could be in the mix for NBA jobs.

With Walton’s proven success, there will be plenty of teams lining up for his services. Here are the five frontrunners that should target Walton to be their next head coach.

Next: Brooklyn Nets