Darvin Ham lasted only two seasons as head coach of LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, getting fired in 2024 after getting the job in 2022. Ham appeared to have a strained relationship with his players by the end of his time and Gilbert Arenas explained why he failed as James’ head coach on Gil’s Arena.
“We’re just going to be honest; your star player’s probably smarter than you, right? And the fact that your star player is smarter than you, that’s a hard job to have,” Arenas said. “You literally have to talk to LeBron’s ego. I got to talk to his basketball. For him to accept you, it’s like talking to some genius… LeBron’s basketball IQ is so high, if you don’t speak the same lingo as him, he’s not listening to you.”
That’s an interesting theory. Arenas also speculated that current Lakers head coach JJ Redick and James’ relationship appears to be better because what the former says during their conversations resonates with the latter.
We do know for sure that James loves talking basketball with Redick as they co-hosted the Mind the Game podcast earlier this year. Perhaps they do connect in a way that Ham was never able to with the star.
Ham’s tenure as Lakers head coach got off to a terrible start as the team was 2-10 after his first 12 games in the 2022-23 season. He did eventually manage to steady the ship and they finished with a 43-39 record that campaign.
Ham then led the Lakers all the way to the Western Conference Finals but they were swept by the Denver Nuggets there. Despite the way it ended, his first season was still a positive one but the same can’t be said about the second.
Ham did manage to lead the Lakers to glory in the In-Season Tournament and they did have a better record in 2023-24 at 47-35, but it was clear all was not right internally. Various reports indicated there was a disconnect between the players and the head coach, with them not being happy with his rotations and lineup changes among other things.
So, when the Nuggets eliminated the Lakers in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, you knew it was all over. Ham was dismissed by the Lakers on May 3 and finished his tenure with the franchise with a respectable 90-74 record. Would a better relationship with James have kept him in the job longer? Perhaps it would have.
At the end of the day, star players do have power when it comes to these decisions. James has been accused of getting multiple coaches fired over the years but in this instance, it seemed like basically all of the Lakers players were done with Ham.
Darvin Ham Opened Up On The Lakers Firing Him
After being fired by the Lakers, Ham became an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, the role he was in before taking the Los Angeles job. He tasted glory in the NBA Cup once again and afterward, took some shots at his old team. Ham flamed the Lakers and stated he didn’t get enough credit for his success.
“To do as well as I did… I swear to God, anywhere else I’m probably looking at an extension,” said Ham, via Andscape. “I’m not talking feelings, just facts. They go from not making the playoffs to the Conference Finals, and we won the in-season tournament… people always talk about us losing to Denver, but they don’t talk about how we got to Denver. We beat a kick-ass young squad in Memphis, and we beat Stephen Curry and Golden State.”
Well, the expectations are different when you’re the head coach for the Lakers. Still, Ham did not exactly do an incredible job. Yes, the Conference Finals appearance and winning the In-Season Tournament are nice accomplishments, but they should not guarantee that you stay in any job.
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