The Los Angeles Lakers parted ways with head coach Byron Scott on Sunday night, and since then there have been countless rumors about who the team will hire as their next head coach. In all of that scuttlebutt and anonymous sourcing, two names have remained constant: Luke Walton and Ettore Messina.
The two men's resumes are impressive. In Walton's brief time as a head coach, he led the Golden State Warriors to a 40-4 record while Steve Kerr recovered from back surgery. Messina's own list of coaching plaudits is longer, with 4 Euroleague titles and several years spent as an NBA assistant coach with the Lakers and in his current position with the Spurs.