Warriors clearly got the best of Luke Walton, who is out of the playoffs again

It is now clear the Warriors got the best coaching work out of Luke Walton as he is out of the playoffs once again.

The Sacramento Kings hired Luke Walton with the hope he could turn the team around. Instead, the Kings are out of the playoffs once again as the streak that began in 2007 lives on.

Walton’s Kings could not even qualify for the play-in tournament, so it is hard to have too many positive takeaways from this season other than player development. But Kings fans have heard that story before.

What has become clear is that the Golden State Warriors got the best version of Coach Walton thus far.

Kings: Luke Walton out of the playoffs again

Walton was once the next darling coach ready to become a star. The Los Angeles Lakers gave him three seasons and he failed to reach the postseason in all three.

He was quickly hired by the Kings and is still seeking his first playoff berth as a head coach.

To be fair, Walton had a tough task ahead of him this season with the Kings. He did help develop some young future pieces in De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton, who represent the future in Sacramento. However, another season out of the playoffs represents a problem.

The wild thing in Sacramento is that Dave Joerger had the Kings close to the playoffs after three seasons. A system was in place and he got the team to a ninth-place finish in 2019. Then the front office decided to go with Walton and the team got worse.

Walton is still only 41 years old and has a full career ahead of him. He just may need to spend some more time as an assistant before another team gives him full control and expects him to repeat the success he had as an interim coach in Golden State.

If he doesn’t have generational talents on the floor, he may be in trouble.