Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton has been reportedly in the hot seat since his team has gone a woeful 6-11 without LeBron James on the floor, having slipped from fourth place in the West to a tie for ninth and out of the playoff picture. According to Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report, Jason Kidd is among the potential replacements and even the favorite to succeed Walton if the Lakers front office was to make a change.

Via Bucher & Friends podcast:

“There’s another development that I’m hearing is gaining momentum, and that’s the possibility of Jason Kidd returning to the coaching ranks by succeeding Luke Walton with the Lakers. Now, I first heard Kidd’s name connected with the Lakers a while back. Right about the time the first round of, ‘Is Luke Walton on the hot seat?’ stories came out. Jeanie Buss, head of the Lakers, threw a bucket of water on that seat, cooled it off. And so I tucked away the talk of Kidd and the Lakers as something at the time, simply spitballing or connecting dots that weren’t necessarily part of the same mosaic.”

Bucher then connected the dots once again after finding out the Lakers reached back to Kidd of his reported interest.

“Now, I know that Kidd wants to coach again. And I know he expressed interest in the Knicks job before David Fizdale ultimately got it. … In the case of Jason and the Lakers, I figured it was a matter of Jason letting them know he was interested, and the Lakers saying, ‘Thanks, we’ll get back to you.’ Well, now sources are saying that the Lakers have actually gotten back to him and this has gone to the next level. And if the Lakers do make a move on Luke, which based on all of the rumblings could happen sooner rather than later, Kidd appears to be very much in the mix and possibly is even the favorite.”

Walton was a hit with the young players of the roster during the past two seasons, but several reports indicated he’s not a LeBron James favorite, a caveat that greatly impacts his potential tenure with the team and makes it solely revolve around wins and losses.

With the Lakers at 26-25 and inching closer to a precipitous fall in a ruthless Western Conference, it could be a matter of days, rather than weeks, before the front office takes swift action in hopes to steer this ship back en route to the playoffs.