Former Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Wharton was fired by the Sacramento Kings after more than two years as head coach. The Kings got off to a strong start to the season, starting with a 5-4 record (hey, it's incredible for the Kings), but losing seven of the 8 games determined the fate of Walton, who boss Viwick Lanadiff seemed to lose patience with him quickly after hiring Walton as head coach in 2019. His position will be taken over by another former Warriors assistant coach, Alvin Gentry.
Wharton had 31-41 records in both the 2019-20 season and the 2020-21 season. While not great, his 42.2 win percentage is still the second best of all coaches in Sackton's tenure for at least one season, behind Reggie Thueus. It's hard to say exactly what led to Walton's dismissal, but he never managed to organize a decent defense. Marvin Bagley's father openly argued with Walton over his son's playing time, which did nothing to help the team develop, although one could argue that it wasn't Luke's fault to let Trae Young and Luka Doncic replace Bagley. It's also possible that Vivek just likes to sack the coach: Gentry is Ranadive's sixth manager since he took over the team in 2013. But when the crowd started shouting "Fire Wharton!" In an awkward loss to the Toronto Raptors, Walton's days are numbered.
In his first two seasons with the Warriors, Walton was a thriving young assistant. Steve Cole, who is also a member of the Arizona Wildcats, won the championship in his first year in charge. Unable to play in the first half of the 2015-16 season due to Cole's back injury, Walton served as interim coach, leading the team to a record of 39 wins and 4 losses before Cole's return, including a 24-game winning streak at the start of the season. Unfortunately, in Luke's career record, Cole is still honored for these wins.
Next, Walton went to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he won two championships as a player. As head coach, he led a post-Kobe-era team to a record of 26 wins and 56 losses – that's 9 games of progress! Unfortunately, that summer, Mitch Kupcek and Jim Bass, who hired Wharton, were replaced by Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson, who weren't necessarily Luke's fans. The young Lakers also improved by nine games in his second year with the Lakers, but when LeBron James became a free agent, the team's youth sports and Walton coaching career came to an end. By the summer of 2019, Walton, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart were gone.
The Kings took Walton away when he had time, and almost at the same time, Walton was charged with sexual assault by reporters from NBA teams (the lawsuit was dropped 8 months later and the NBA conducted a 4-month investigation into Walton). You might think the allegations would make Sacramento hesitate, but the Kings have a long history of hiring coaches after playing for the Golden State Warriors. Of course, that makes sense because they're choosing coaches with a Finals background now, but they did it even when the Warriors were doing badly.
The two longest coaches in Sacramento were Rick Adelman, who led the Warriors in 1995-97; Gary St. Jean, who served as Don Nelson's chief assistant in the 1988-92 season, was later poached by the Kings. The Saints later returned to the Warriors as general manager and head coach. Adelman coached the Kings for 8 years until 2006, when his contract was not renewed, despite the team's efforts to win the No. 8 seed. This will be the Kings' last season into the playoffs.
Eric Musselman served as kings head coach for just one year after being sacked by the Warriors two years later. In 2011, after Keith Smart was sacked by Joe Lacob, he became an assistant to the Kings and was quickly promoted to head coach two months later. A year and a half later, Smart was fired by the Warriors' chief assistant Michael Malone, "Don't Call Me Michael." Sacramento hired 80-year-old Warriors coach George Carr in 2015 and Walton in 2019, and now they will end the season with Alvin Gentry, another employee of the Warriors' 2014-15 season.
At the moment, the Warriors' coaching staff seems to be quite full, but perhaps Wharton can fill the gap during Kenny Atkinson's ankle recovery. But this is the Sacramento Kings, so it's a mission that's doomed to fail. They could also see if Gentry could get General Washington to start winning, or have Werewolf Wyre go after the Runners, or get the Oakland Athletics to sign free agents. It was a sad day for Wharton, but it was also a day of freedom for him. Because he's no longer an NBA coach, but at least he's no longer the Sacramento Kings.