When Luke Walton leads the Lakers in their preseason game at Valley View Casino Center, his father — San Diego resident Bill Walton — will likely be in attendance in more than one way.
Not only with the actual Bill Walton, born in La Mesa, probably be there, but a 12,000-pound bronze statue of him will be on guard in the building formerly known as the San Diego Sports Arena.
“America’s Finest City” is home for the Waltons, as Luke was born and raised in San Diego, where he played at this very arena for University of San Diego High. He led the Dons to three straight California state title games, finally winning as a senior in 1998 — the same year he was named San Diego Section Player of the Year.
About two decades earlier, Bill was the young man shining in San Diego. During his time at Helix High, he was selected to play for the United States National Team at the 1970 FIBA World Championships in Yugoslavia.
After winning three straight national college player of the year honors at UCLA, Bill was drafted by both the Portland Trail Blazers and the ABA’s San Diego Conquistadors. He chose the former, whom he led to the 1977 NBA title, but would return to his hometown soon after.
Bill — who was inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions in 1990 — played for the San Diego Clippers from 1979-85, though foot injuries caused him to miss two full seasons and parts of others.
Luke was born during his father’s time as a Clipper in 1980, just two years after Bill’s San Diego teammate, Joe Bryant, had a son named Kobe.
Luke — whose brother, Chris, played at San Diego State — is not the only San Diego-bred member of Los Angeles’ coaching staff.
Assistant coach Jud Buechler was raised in Poway, where he was named San Diego Section Player of the Year in 1986 after leading Poway High to its third straight title.
Buechler, who was also a top volleyball recruit, returned to San Diego after his NBA career ended in 2002, and he remained there until his youngest daughter left for college in 2016, when he joined Walton’s staff .
Other than Walton — who helped the Lakers to two championships during his eight-plus seasons with the team — two other San Diego natives have suited up in purple and gold.
The first, John Fairchild, was born in Encinitas and went to San Dieguito High. After attending San Diego’s Palomar College, he went to BYU and was drafted by the Lakers in the second round of the 1965 NBA draft.
Fairchild only spent his rookie year in L.A., averaging just 5.7 minutes on a team that fell to Boston in seven games in the NBA Finals.
Thirty-six years later, Jelani McCoy joined the Lakers for the 2001-02 season. The St. Augustine High alum wasn’t on the team’s playoff roster when it defended its championship claim and averaged only 5.0 minutes in 21 appearances.
McCoy only spent that one year with the Lakers but did return to the organization with its D-League affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, in 2007-08.
Before McCoy was born, the Lakers used to take road trips down south for battles with the San Diego Rockets from 1967-71.
The Rockets — whose first draft pick was legendary Lakers coach Pat Riley — boasted a young Hall of Famer in Elvin Hayes, but the Lakers owned the series.
The Lakers went 22-6 during the Rockets’ time in San Diego and were particularly dominant early on, winning 16 of the first 17 meetings between the clubs.
In particular, Jerry West was a menace to San Diego, dropping 40-plus points on the Rockets on five occasions. West also played at the 1971 All-Star Game in San Diego alongside Wilt Chamberlain, who went on to coach the San Diego Conquistadors for one season after retiring from the Lakers in 1973.
The Rockets moved to Houston in 1971, but San Diego would soon become an NBA town again.
Seven years later, the Buffalo Braves moved to Southern California and became the San Diego Clippers.
Like the Rockets, the Clippers played at the San Diego Sports Arena and didn’t have much success against the Lakers, who were 24-10 in the series. Against both the Clippers and Rockets, the Lakers went 20-11 in games played in the city of San Diego.
The Clippers even gave the Lakers one of the key pieces to the Showtime era, as San Diego traded fourth-overall pick Byron Scott to L.A. in 1983 as part of an exchange that brought them Norm Nixon.
The Lakers went on to win three titles in six years, while the Clippers moved to Los Angeles in 1984 after only seven years in San Diego.
While the city hasn’t had an NBA team since, the Lakers have held a constant presence in the city since playing their first preseason game in San Diego in 1990. The Lakers — who have gone 11-8 in San Diego exhibitions — have played a preseason game there, with one exception, every non-lockout year since 1996.
And one of the men calling those games has been San Diego resident Stu Lantz. The Lakers’ color commentator since 1987, Lantz was drafted by the San Diego Rockets in 1968 and spent three seasons there before the franchise moved to Houston. Lantz averaged 15.6 points for the Rockets and later spent the final two years of his career with the Lakers.
Despite his hour-and-45-minute commute to Staples Center, San Diego is worth the trip to Lantz, who continues to live roughly 120 miles south of L.A.