After weeks of speculation, the Los Angeles Lakers have decided to go in a different direction.

On Friday, the Lakers agreed to "part ways" with head coach Luke Walton after three seasons with the team. The team announced the decision in a press release.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Luke Walton have mutually agreed to part ways, it was announced today by Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka.

"We would like to thank Luke for his dedicated service over the last three years," said Pelinka. "We wish Luke and his family the best of luck moving forward."

"I want to thank Jeanie Buss and the Buss family for giving me the opportunity to coach the Lakers," said Walton. "This franchise and the city will always be special to me and my family."

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski also reports that another former Laker is is a "strong frontrunner" to replace Walton as the head coach:

The news comes just three days after Magic Johnson stepped down as the president of basketball operations. Johnson announced his resignation prior to the Lakers' season finale against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Walton put together a 98-148 record during his three seasons with the Lakers. Los Angeles hired Walton after a very successful stint with the Golden State Warriors as an assistant coach. Walton even filled in for Steve Kerr during the 2015-16, guiding the Warriors to a 39-4 start before Kerr returned from dealing with health issues.

The Lakers compiled a 37-45 record in their final campaign under Walton. The 37-win season was actually the highest win total that Walton put together during his time in Los Angeles, but owner Jeanie Buss and company still decided that it was time to make a change on the bench.

The Lakers obviously didn't have a ton of success as far as the whole body of work goes, especially after failing to qualify for the postseason. However, Los Angeles was in the thick of the playoff race before LeBron James went down with a groin strain on Christmas Day. The Lakers saw James, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart all have season ending injuries down the stretch, which factored into the team falling out of the playoff race.