The Knicks might be in trouble for contacting Luke Walton
Phil Jackson may or may not understand the NBA rulebook. The New York Knicks President is in hot water for the second time in two years after reportedly communicating with Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton about New York's head coaching position (via New York Daily News):
Phil Jackson could be in violation of the NBA's tampering rules for the second time in two years for contacting Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton without receiving permission from Golden State...It is unclear if the Warriors will file tampering charges against Jackson and the Knicks. Jackson spent Monday in full damage control mode after it was reported that he contacted Walton last week about the Knicks head coaching job. The Daily News reported that Walton informed his former coach with the Lakers that as of right now he wasn't interested in the job. ESPN, citing unnamed sources, reported that Jackson had informed members of the Knicks front office staff that it was his belief that Walton would remain with the Warriors.
All sides have denied any wrongdoing, but the same thing happened two years ago when Jackson said Derek Fisher was "a person that's on my list of guys that could be very good candidate for this job," via ESPN, meaning he wanted Fisher to be the Knicks head coach. (Fisher was eventually hired and unceremoniously showed the door earlier this season.)
The NBA fined Jackson $25K for tampering, and the 13-time NBA champion responded on Twitter:
It was all very amazing.
This time around, it'd obviously be more difficult to prove that Jackson did or said anything wrong. A) His comments weren't made in public, and B) He already has a personal relationship with Walton that extends beyond their professional lives. Just because they spoke doesn't mean they talked about the job.
On the other hand, where there's smoke there's fire (especially when it involves the Knicks), and multiple reports over the past few days cited Jackson's belief that Walton was not interested in taking the position if it were offered. How would he possibly know that if they never talked about it?
Either way, this is much ado about nothing. There's virtually no chance Walton would ever leave one of the best teams in league history to take a job on the other side of the country with one of the most embarrassing.
In all likelihood, the 36-year-old will either stay put in the Bay Area for at least one more year or assume the Los Angeles Lakers gig in the event Byron Scott is terminated.
The Knicks shouldn't even be on Walton's radar.
