Berman: The Knicks have already reached out to Luke Walton

Here is the response Phil Jackson gave when asked by a reporter what the "situation is" with Kurt Rambis "in terms of the interim tag moving forward" a few days ago:

"Kurt's part of the interview. That's the only one I've said I'd interview right now. I've resisted taking calls or making calls until the season's over and I have these exit meetings, but Kurt knows he will be interviewed for the job."

Here is a report today from the New York Post:

Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton already has interviewed with at least two teams, including the Knicks and Nets, according to an NBA source.

Walton had pulled himself out of consideration from the Nets, who announced the hiring of Kenny Atkinson on Sunday.

According to a source, Knicks president Phil Jackson already has spoken with Walton, though it's unclear if it was just a phone interview.

(In an update, Marc Berman reports it was indeed a phone interview.)

The Post previously reported the Warriors would let Walton interview during a break in the playoffs if a team flew out to speak with him (or called him), which is something we could have assumed since they were permissive with Alvin Gentry last year.

A couple quick takeaways from a very little scoop, all of them confirmations of things we already knew or expected:

1. Phil Jackson is at least partially full of shit when he speaks to reporters.

2. The Knicks will pursue Luke Walton, though it's unclear if he'll have even a little interest in coaching them. A few hours after the above report, Frank Isola says Walton said in his phone call with Jackson (not an interview, just a phone call) that he's not interested in the Knicks job:

Luke Walton, according to NBA source, told P Jackson that as of right now he's not interested in NYK job. Unclear if/when they'll talk again

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) April 18, 2016

3. I should have done this prior, but I just actually *watched* Phil's exit interview instead of consuming it via reporter's tweets, and I'm way less uneasy about the coaching search than I was before. Like, this is that quote above as processed by Isola:

Phil Jackson confirms that he has not reached out to any coaching candidates. Kurt Rambis was & is his guy.

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) April 14, 2016

The part about Phil only reaching out to people he "knows" also makes a lot more sense in context. Just a reminder to myself to consume information directly from the source whenever possible!