Walton Languishes in Second Season

Luke Walton leaned forward in the chair at his locker and stared down at the purple carpet in front of him, his eyes fixated a few feet from the Laker logo in the center of the room.

“I’m trying to deal with it,” he said. “It’s a first for me. Hopefully I’ll get my chance one of these games.”

Walton’s second pro season has been markedly different from his first. Laker followers still roll his name off the ends of their tongues whenever he enters a game, but Walton’s production and playing time have fallen.

He is averaging one point, one assist and eight minutes a game in what could be his last season as a Laker. He becomes a restricted free agent in July, free to leave if the Lakers do not match an offer from another team. He is making $620,000 this season.

“I’d have liked to have been a Laker for a career, but I’m not looking that far ahead,” Walton said. “I’m trying to solve this problem.”

Walton has been problem-solving since sustaining a sprained ankle in training camp, tumbling toward the bottom of an already overcrowded small-forward position.

“The guys who really missed training camp are the guys that are playing catch-up,” Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “It’s unfortunate because they’ve already proved they can play in this league to the coach who was here last year and the management that was here last year. But it’s a new coaching staff and Rudy [Tomjanovich] came in with a blank slate.”

Kupchak met recently with Walton and power forward Slava Medvedenko, who has also lost playing time. Medvedenko is averaging 2.9 points and 5.4 minutes.

“Normally over the course of a season it all works out,” Kupchak said. “I know they’re both frustrated and they want to play. I encouraged them both to stay ready and be a professional. That’s all you can do.”

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Kobe Bryant heaved shot after shot from half court, dozens in all, playfully shooting them left-handed, off his left foot, a couple of hours before Friday’s tipoff.

“We’re turning the corner pretty well here,” said Bryant, who can now push lightly off his severely sprained right ankle.

The prescribed rest he has taken has helped heal the inflamed arch in his left foot that has bothered him since November.

“I don’t have to crawl out of bed in the morning any more,” he said. “It’s made drastic improvements.”

Bryant would not provide a definitive return date, but he said his absence could help the team in the long run.

“When I’m in there, they defer to me so much to the point where they don’t feel comfortable going because they feel like, you know what, he should have the ball,” Bryant said. “Now it’s just a chance for them to find out about themselves -- ‘I can score, I can make big plays and big shots’ -- so then when I get back they’ll have that confidence that they can make those big shots so it’s not like it’ll have to come to me every time.”