Luke Walton

Luke Walton

No. 4 – Los Angeles Lakers
Bench Defender
Personal information
Born	March 28, 1980 (1980-03-28) San Diego, California
Nationality	American
High school	University of San Diego
Listed height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
College	Arizona
NBA Draft	2003 / Round: 2 / Pick: 32nd overall
Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers
Pro career	2003–present
Career history
2003–present	Los Angeles Lakers
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA Champion (2009–2010)

Luke Theodore Walton (born March 28, 1980) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His primary position is at small forward. After the 2010 NBA Finals, Walton and his father, Hall of Famer Bill Walton, became the first father and son to both have won multiple NBA championships. Bill won in 1977 and 1986, and Luke in 2009 and 2010.

Biography

Early life

Luke Walton is the son of former NBA great Bill Walton, and was named after Bill's close friend and former Portland Trail Blazers teammate Maurice Lucas. He has three brothers — Adam, Nathan (who unsuccessfully ran for governor during the 2003 California recall), and Chris. He attended University of San Diego High School in San Diego, California.

College

After graduating from University of San Diego High School in 1998, Walton enrolled at the University of Arizona and majored in family studies and human development. There, he played for the Wildcats under coach Lute Olson. In his junior year, Walton averaged 15.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. As a fifth-year senior, he averaged 10.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 0.9 steals.

Walton graduated from Arizona at the end of 2003, and was selected by the Lakers in the 2003 NBA Draft with the third pick of the second round (32nd overall). Standing at 6 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 235 pounds, Walton has been with the Lakers for his entire NBA career.

Coaching

On August 22, 2011, the University of Memphis announced they would hire Walton as an assistant coach until the 2011 NBA lockout ended. Walton played at the University of Arizona where current Memphis head coach Josh Pastner was also a player/assistant.

NBA career

Walton in 2008.

Walton suffered an injury in the 2004 preseason and was unable to find a place in Rudy Tomjanovich's rotation, but returned to a regular spot in the lineup after the coach's resignation midway through the season.

In 2006–07, Walton had a career year, with career high per game averages in minutes, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, steals, blocks, rebounds, assists and points. His PER also reached a career high. Following the season, on July 12, 2007, Walton was signed to a 6-year, $30 million contract.

His career high game was on December 8, 2006 against the Atlanta Hawks, where he had 25 points. He was playing noteworthy basketball until his injury on January 26, 2007 occurred.

Personal

On his right arm, there is a tattoo of four Grateful Dead-type dancing skeletons, each one with a basketball; the skeletons represent Luke and his three brothers.

In 2006, Walton made a cameo appearance on the television soap opera The Young and the Restless.

In December 2008, a woman named Stacy Elizabeth Beshear [1] pleaded no contest to charges of stalking Walton; she was arrested after she pulled up to Walton's car and pretended to fire gunshots at him with her hand. She was sentenced to three years' probation, told to attend weekly counseling sessions for a year and ordered to stay away for three years from Walton's home and from the Lakers' games and practices.

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2003–04	L.A. Lakers	72	2	10.1	.425	.333	.705	1.8	1.6	.4	.1	2.4
2004–05	L.A. Lakers	61	5	12.6	.411	.262	.708	2.3	1.5	.4	.2	3.2
2005–06	L.A. Lakers	69	6	19.3	.412	.327	.750	3.6	2.3	.6	.2	5.0
2006–07	L.A. Lakers	60	60	33.0	.474	.387	.745	5.0	4.3	1.0	.3	11.4
2007–08	L.A. Lakers	74	31	23.4	.450	.333	.706	3.9	2.9	.8	.2	7.2
2008–09	L.A. Lakers	65	34	17.9	.436	.298	.719	2.8	2.7	.5	.2	5.0
2009–10	L.A. Lakers	29	0	9.4	.357	.412	.500	1.3	1.4	.3	.0	2.4
2010–11	L.A. Lakers	54	0	9.0	.328	.235	.700	1.2	1.1	.2	.1	1.7
Career		484	138	17.5	.433	.329	.724	2.9	2.3	.6	.2	5.0

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2004	L.A. Lakers	17	0	7.9	.345	.385	.700	1.3	1.5	.4	.1	1.9
2006	L.A. Lakers	7	7	33.6	.458	.364	1.000	6.4	1.7	1.0	.1	12.1
2007	L.A. Lakers	5	5	25.6	.389	.417	.750	4.2	2.6	1.4	.2	7.2
2008	L.A. Lakers	21	0	15.8	.427	.313	.611	2.5	2.1	.7	.1	3.8
2009	L.A. Lakers	21	0	16.8	.454	.423	.722	2.6	2.0	.5	.2	6.0
2010	L.A. Lakers	16	0	6.0	.304	.222	.500	.5	.9	.1	.1	1.1
2011	L.A. Lakers	1	0	4.0	.000	.000	.000	1.0	0	0	0	0
Career		88	12	14.6	.420	.360	.701	2.3	1.7	.5	.2	4.3

External links

• Luke Walton at NBA.com
• Luke Walton at Basketball-Reference.com