The Los Angeles Lakers moved on from Darvin Ham after two seasons at the helm earlier this year. While Ham came under plenty of criticism for how he handled things last season, it was a bit of a surprise to see the team cut bait after so little time, particularly because Ham was a first-time head coach who was growing into the role and got dealt a difficult hand with injuries in 2023-24.
Regardless, Ham’s time with the team came to an end, and while the Lakers went with another first-time coach in JJ Redick, Ham joined Doc Rivers’ staff in Milwaukee, which won the NBA Cup earlier this week. Funny enough, it meant he went back-to-back in the tournament, as the Lakers won it in its inaugural campaign. And on the heels of his campaign, Ham spoke to Marc Spears of Andscape and spoke candidly about the Lakers moving on from him.
“To do as well as I did, I swear to God, anywhere else I’m probably looking at an extension with what I did,” Ham told Spears. “I’m not talking about feelings. I’m talking actual facts. They go from not making it to the playoffs to the final four in the NBA, the conference finals. And then you win the in-season tournament, navigate through all the injuries and win both of your play-in games to get to the playoffs.”
Ham touched on the Lakers’ injury woes while addressing a frequent criticism of him last year: that he wasn’t sure how to handle the team’s rotations.
“It’s being reported like I’m just throwing some lineups up against the wall to see what sticks. No man, we were really navigating a lot from guys being hurt to having the oldest player in the league [James] to navigating A.D.’s injury history. It was a lot.
“Some of the s— that was coming out? Wow, bro I don’t know X’s and O’s? I was winging it. Dude, that was the most disappointing stuff, how mean and so much stuff people are saying online. The best thing I could do was block out the outside noise,” Ham said.
Ham went 90-74 during his two seasons with the Lakers. The team went to and got swept in the Western Conference Finals in 2023, but in 2024, they were elimated in the first round in five games. Both times, L.A. fell to the Denver Nuggets.
