Kings start hiring assistants for Luke Walton after 5 weeks of investigating assault allegations
Five weeks after the Sacramento Kings announced they were “gathering information” about a female reporter’s sexual assault claim against Luke Walton, it looks like the team is proceeding forward with its new head coach.
The Kings have hired Oklahoma City Thunder assistant Bob Beyer, Los Angeles Lakers assistant Jesse Mermuys and former Team Canada head coach Roy Rana to Walton’s coaching staff, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick. Player development coach Bobby Jackson will also be retained on Walton’s staff.
Six weeks after Kings hired Luke Walton, his staff has begun to take shape. Source tells @TheAthleticNBA Walton has added Bob Beyer (formerly OKC), Jesse Mermuys (Lakers), & Canadian coach Roy Rana as assts. Bobby Jackson to be Asst./player development. Likely adding 2-3 more.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) May 28, 2019
Amick had previously reported the Kings were proceeding forward with Walton, but it obviously took a while to bring the top group of assistants together.
It’s hard to imagine the Kings waited more than a month to hire their top assistant coaches for any reason other than waiting to see what could come out of the allegations against Walton.
For reference, Jason Kidd was simultaneously reported as a new Lakers assistant with head coach Frank Vogel, and it took less than a week for J.B. Bickerstaff to join John Beilein’s staff in Cleveland. Coaches don’t like to wait to add top assistants.
For now, it looks like the Kings are proceeding forward with Walton. The former Lakers head coach was accused by Los Angeles reporter Kelli Tennant of grabbing her, holding her down and kissing her against her will in a Santa Monica hotel room in 2014 when he was an assistant with the Golden State Warriors, as well as routinely making her uncomfortable in their workplace.
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