Luke Loucks discusses relationship with Leonard Hamilton, draws parallels to Jon Scheyer-Mike Krzyzewski

When Florida State’s season ends, a changing of the guard will begin. Leonard Hamilton is stepping down, and Luke Loucks is officially coming in as his successor.

Loucks played for Hamilton from 2009-12 before embarking on a professional basketball career overseas and in the NBA D-League. He then got into coaching in the association in 2016 with the Golden State Warriors and most recently worked for the Sacramento Kings.

FSU will be Loucks’ first college coaching job, but he doesn’t want Hamilton to go too far away. He said the door is open should he want to come visit, and Loucks sees it as a similar relationship to the one Jon Scheyer has with Mike Krzyzewski at Duke.

“He’s been great through the whole process,” Loucks said of Hamilton on ACC Network’s Nothing But Net. “As soon as he heard they were going to interview me, he helped me out in so many different ways – like he always does. I’ve had a strong relationship with him since I played for him. And I don’t see that changing in any way.

“I’m going to have him around as much as he wants to be around, and I would never tell him to back away. It’s something that Jon Scheyer goes through with Coach K, and his advice, I’m sure, has helped Jon so much. I expect the same with Coach Ham.”

Luke Loucks became a starter at Florida State as a senior in 2011-12. That year, he averaged 7.1 points and 3.3 rebounds as the Seminoles became a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. After going undrafted in the 2012 NBA Draft, he played professionally in Europe before returning stateside in 2014 with the Main Red Claws and Erie BayHawks in the NBA D-League.

In 2016, he joined Steve Kerr’s staff in Golden State. Loucks was part of two NBA championship staffs with the Warriors before joining the Kings as an assistant coach in 2022.

Loucks was in his third season with Sacramento when Florida State called, and he weighed the decision to leave the NBA mid-way through the year. But in the age of the transfer portal, he saw the need to head to Tallahassee immediately and start laying the groundwork for his first season as head coach.

In the meantime, Florida State is looking to keep its season going in the ACC tournament. The Seminoles started things off against Syracuse in the first round Tuesday night after entering as the No. 11 seed in the field.