Lakers hire Luke Walton as head coach

The Los Angeles Lakers have nabbed one of the most prized coaching candidates on the market.

Golden State Warriors assistant Luke Walton - who spent the first eight years of his playing career with the Lakers - has agreed to a multi-year contract to become the team's next head coach, the Lakers announced Friday.

Walton was the Lakers' first choice, and the only candidate they interviewed, a source told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

"We're excited to bring Luke back to Los Angeles, where we feel he's going to start an outstanding coaching career," general manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. "He's one of the brightest young coaching minds in the game and we feel fortunate that he'll be leading the on-court future of our team."

Walton has served as an assistant on the Warriors' staff the last two seasons, winning a championship last year and rising to prominence in the first half of this season when he filled in as interim head coach in the absence of an ailing Steve Kerr.

In 43 games at the helm, Walton led the Warriors to an all-time best 39-4 start, which kick-started their historic 73-9 campaign. For his efforts, Walton finished eighth in Coach of the Year voting (which Kerr won), despite not being officially credited with any of those 39 wins.

Circumstances were obviously far from equal, but it bears mentioning that in two seasons as Lakers head coach, the recently deposed Byron Scott won just 38 games.

Given his remarkable success in his brief head coaching stint, and the winning culture he's coming from, Walton's a strong hire for the Lakers, who reportedly blew their chance at Tom Thibodeau by deliberating too long about whether to keep Scott.

"I loved everything about my time at Golden State and learning from Steve," Walton told Shelburne. "I'll be forever grateful to him, the organization, and the team. But I have always dreamed of being a head coach and the chance to do that for an organization like the Lakers doesn't come around very often."

At 36, Walton will become the youngest active coach in the NBA.