Luke Walton

Luke Theodore Walton (born March 28 1980 in San
Diego, California) is a professional basketball
player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National
Basketball Association. His position is small
forward.


Growing up as the son of former NBA great Bill
Walton, Luke was certainly no stranger to the
sport of basketball.  His three brothers: Adam,
Nathan (who also unsuccessfully ran for governor
during the 2003 California recall), and Chris also
play or have played basketball for their schools.
He has a tattoo on his arm representing himself
and his brothers playing ball.

After graduating from University of San Diego High
School in 1998, he enrolled at the University of
Arizona and majored in Family Studies.  There, he
played for the Wildcats under coach Lute Olson.
He was selected in the 2003 NBA Draft with the
third pick of the second round (32nd overall) by
the Lakers.  Standing in at 6'8" tall and 235 lbs,
Walton has been with the Lakers his entire NBA
career.

Walton's game is not flashy, and he does not make
the highlight reel often, but he is skilled in the
fundamentals of basketball: positioning, timing,
and teamwork. His passing skills brought him great
success in the triangle offense under Phil
Jackson. In fact, the main criticism against him
is that he passes too often, as was exemplified in
a game at the end of the 2004–05 season,
where the Lakers were down by a point with time
running out and he was in position to score.
Instead, he passed the ball to Kobe Bryant, who
was unable to get a shot off. As the buzzer
sounded, Kobe slammed the ball on the floor in
frustration (he later said he didn't blame Walton
for the pass). Walton suffered an injury in the
2004 preseason and was unable to find a place in
coach Rudy Tomjanovich's rotation, but returned to
a regular spot in the lineup after the coach's
resignation midway through the season.