Apparently spurred by Brian Windhorst linking the Lakers to David Fizdale as an eventual Luke Walton replacement, via a connection between Fizdale and LeBron James, the Lakers have finally offered an endorsement of Walton, such as it is:
Windhorst told Rich Eisen that he for one buys that the Lakers aren’t all in on Luke Walton, and that the connection between LeBron James and fired Grizzlies coach David Fizdale makes Fizdale a legitimate option to replace the newly embattled Lakers coach (via SLAM online):
“Whatever you want to say about LaVar Ball, he has smoked out the fact that the Lakers do not support Luke Walton. And that is now crystal clear.
And there are now guys out there wondering openly to me—executives, coaches, agents—who the Lakers are going to hire as their next coach.
Because that has been revealed here: That they do not have unconditional support for Luke.
[...]
I got executives in my ear, I got agents in my ear, saying, ‘Oh yeah, they’re probably going to hire David Fizdale.’”
That’s the backdrop for that Jeanie Buss tweet, using the #InLukeWeTrust hashtag to navigate the choppy international waters between throwing full-throated support behind the team’s head coach and not openly and directly rebuking the very outspoken parent of the team’s most visible player. This is so much less satisfying than Magic Johnson saying “hey, LaVar, give it a rest,” but it’s also not nothing.