Luke Walton will be leaving the Golden State Warriors to coach the Lakers after this season, so a public relations official decided to have some fun at his expense before he departs.
The Lakers, sporting a terrible 17-65 record, had a great chance to land one of the top two picks in the NBA Draft Lottery. When you’re awful on the court, you get opportunities to build and get less awful, that’s how it works in this league.
Los Angeles was in a bit of a stressful situation, though, because if they didn’t land one of the top three picks, their pick would’ve gone to Boston. So there was a lot of pressure heading into the Draft Lottery on Tuesday night.
Warriors PR official Raymond Ridder trolled Walton and told him the Lakers got the fourth pick via text message, which probably made the Lakers new coach quite disappointed.
Before lottery, Warriors PR czar Raymond Ridder texted Luke Walton that Lakers got 4th pick. Luke fell for the prank, now has last laugh.
— Bill Oram (@billoram) May 18, 2016
The Lakers got the second pick, so the joke’s on you, Golden State! Well, kinda.