NBA Rumors: Magic Johnson Says Walton Was Not Ready For Showtime In LA

Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Luke Walton have a lot of things in common for the Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson is undoubtedly an icon of the sport while Walton invented himself as a promising coach. Both had the chance to work together but it apparently did not work out. Another thing common to both is that they both walked away from Los Angeles.

Johnson is still out there on his own attending to other things after stepping down as Lakers president. Walton has moved on to Sacramento where he will get another chance at coaching young players. Ironically, he will join another former Laker in Kings general manager Vlade Divac.

While speaking to FS1's "Undisputed," Johnson was thrown questions tied up to his tenure with the Lakers. That included if there was anything team owner Jeanie Buss could have done to make him stay. His response was blunt as expected although he did mention something about Walton.

"Luke was not ready at that time. But I'm happy for him. He went to Sacramento. He's going to do a great job. Sometimes, you get fired and you do a better job. I know there was conflict. It was tough. Look, he's an ex-Laker, I'm an ex-Laker, and [Jeanie] loves both of us to death. But hey, she made a call, I made a decision and now we gotta move on," said Johnson.

Further, Johnson practically admitted that they needed to go in a different direction. If they were serious in winning an NBA title, Walton was not their guy. He feels the 39-year-old is not a championship-caliber coach.

Walton has yet to respond to Johnson's comments. In fact, he may not talk at all. Rather, the former Lakers coach may prefer to let his actions do the talking. He does have an ardent task of turning things around for the Kings and team execs are backing him.

Unfortunately, Walton is off to a bad start. The Kings have dropped their first three assignments in the 2019-20 NBA season by an average margin of 23.6 points. Sacramento hosts the Denver Nuggets on Oct. 28 at the Pepsi Center starting at 10 p.m. EDT.