Luke Walton isn’t worried about the Lakers’ culture, despite 49-point loss to Dallas

Luke Walton may not be a perfect head coach, but one thing he has been is open about his decision making process and how he evaluates his team.

Within the last week, Walton has spoken at length about the types of wins he feels are good for the Lakers, why he’s sat Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell down the stretch of certain games, and why he’s not concerned about the team’s culture even after their 49-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Walton elaborated on that last point at the Lakers’ practice on Monday, and he hadn’t changed his thought process.

And Walton, despite losses where it appears the team isn’t up to play like the one on Sunday, does not appear to be in danger of losing the team. They rarely dispute his postgame assessments after games, something that was subtly common under the last coaching staff.

The Lakers may not have translated it to the court in recent weeks, but they have made progress. It’s been slow, but it’s important to remember that the team is also just one win shy of their total for all of last season.

The baby steps are there if you care to look, and until it looks like the players aren’t buying in, there is little Walton and his staff can adjust about their approach. The team just needs to keep chipping away.

Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.