Luke Walton’s seat hotter than ever?

The pressure is mounting on Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton — again. With the Kings (5-8) in the midst of a four-game losing streak heading into a Monday night game at Detroit, sources say the third-year coach’s job status will likely be in peril soon if the current slide continues. The Kings, who started the season 5-4 before falling to Indiana, Phoenix, San Antonio and Oklahoma City, are determined to break their 15-year playoff drought, the NBA’s longest, and Walton won’t be given the same leeway to turn things around as he was last season. Especially when it comes to extended losing streaks.
Source: The Athletic

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Jason Jones @mr_jasonjones
Kings’ Luke Walton on hot seat again, won’t be given same leeway as last season: Sources
via @TheAthletic theathletic.com/news/kings-luk… – 11:43 AM

James Ham @James_HamNBA
“We’re all in this together. We take a loss, it’s on coaches, it’s on players. We understand that it’s our group, that’s why we talk about not letting outside stuff get in between us.” -Luke Walton (cont.) – 11:10 PM

James Ham @James_HamNBA
“To me, it really came down to guards not boxing out guards. We’ve talked about it since day 1 of training camp.”
-Luke Walton
Walton also said that if the guards aren’t going to box out, then more changes are coming. – 11:01 PM

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
I asked Kings coach Luke Walton if Chimezie Metu’s opportunity against the Thunder tonight could have been Marvin Bagley III’s opportunity under different circumstances.
“We’re looking into the future and we’ll see what presents itself in the coming days,” Walton said. – 10:54 PM

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
Luke Walton on this early test of his team’s togetherness and resolve: “It’s being tested, but it’s not going anywhere. … We’re 13 games into a season and, yeah, it’s a tough patch right now, but we’re not going anywhere. We’re sticking together. We’ll get through it together.” – 10:45 PM

Matt George @MattGeorgeSAC
“In our league, anybody will beat everybody if you aren’t ready to play.” – Luke Walton – 10:41 PM

Matt George @MattGeorgeSAC
Luke Walton reassured the media that the resolve and togetherness of the Kings is still strong… – 10:40 PM

Matt George @MattGeorgeSAC
“We lost that game at the end of the third into the fourth…” – Luke Walton – 10:34 PM

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
“We’ve got to get him going and we’ll look to do that for sure tonight.” — Kings coach Luke Walton on Richaun Holmes, who had a total of 13 points in the past two games with only four field-goal attempts vs. the Spurs on Wednesday – 6:42 PM

James Ham @James_HamNBA
According to Luke Walton, Tyrese Haliburton will be game time decision tonight in OKC. He has missed previous two games with lower back tightness. – 6:33 PM

Sean Cunningham @SeanCunningham
Kings Oklahoma City tonight. Kings coach Luke Walton says Tyrese Haliburton and Terence Davis are gametime decisions – 6:33 PM

Jason Anderson @JandersonSacBee
Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton says Tyrese Haliburton (back) and Terence Davis (ankle) will be gametime decisions for tonight’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder – 6:33 PM

More on this storyline

At the time, sources said Walton’s approval rating in the locker room and the partnership he had created with general manager Monte McNair during McNair’s first season with the team were key factors in his survival. The financial factor, one can safely surmise, played a pivotal part as well. The 41-year-old coach has this season and next guaranteed on his contract, for a combined total of $11.5 million. -via The Athletic / November 15, 2021

The playoff expectations have officially arrived for all involved. As McNair made clear in a conversation with The Athletic on Nov. 8, in which he was transparent about that reality, the talent on this current roster is seen internally as one that’s worthy of a postseason appearance. Kings executives have consistently shared that sentiment privately with rival executives as well. -via The Athletic / November 15, 2021

Monte McNair on Luke Walton: There’s a lot that goes into being a coach these days. And yeah, we felt like we had a lot of positive signs last year. Obviously, we didn’t get where we wanted to go, so we worked on adding depth and defense and Luke acknowledged that we need to be better, certainly on that end of the floor. And we’ve seen some good early returns this year. And so, you know, it’s just staying in that constant communication and hopefully seeing the results on the floor like we’ve seen this early going. You know, we all are trying to — like you said — row the boat in that direction. We’ve all got to get to the playoffs and finally reap that reward. -via The Athletic / November 9, 2021