Darvin Ham may be the official head coach of the Lakers, but it’s LeBron James who has the ultimate say over what happens in that locker room. This week, league insider Anthony Irwin confirmed as much in a chat with a Lakers source who gave an inside perspective into the situation.
“He sits in the huddle and gets his rest/water, rolls his eyes as Ham speaks and waits for the huddle to break,” one source close told Lakers Daily’s Anthony Irwin. “If Ham ever does draw up a play, as soon as the huddle breaks, James will tell everyone else on the court with him ‘f— all that’ and calls a play of his own.”
Throughout his tenures in Cleveland and Miami, LeBron frequently called his own plays and was given full control over the offense. With the Lakers, it has been the same way under both Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham. In this case, however, LeBron isn’t just calling his own plays out there, he’s contradicting the coach straight out of the huddle.
That kind of behavior usually signals major distrust between the player and the coach and it could also signal the coming end of Darvin Ham’s Lakers tenure. After just a season and a half with this team, it seems LeBron has fully checked out and that’s the worst thing possible for Ham’s influence in the locker room.
While Darvin himself has maintained immunity from dismissal, it turns out that the Lakers could place him on the hot seat this summer depending on how they finish this season. With a playoff berth as the lowest bar of success, anything short of that could force some major changes in the upcoming offseason and Ham could be the first one to go.
Can The Lakers Make The Playoffs?
At 10th in the West, the Lakers are currently three games out of the 6th seed and are below the Warriors, Mavericks, and Kings in the Western standings. If the playoffs started today, the Lakers would need to win two play-in games to secure the 8th and final spot, first against the Warriors and then against whichever team wins from the Kings or Mavericks.
While the Lakers have been on fire recently, thanks to the hot shooting performance of D’Angelo Russell, they don’t have a lot of time to make up ground in the standings. With so many teams above them playing well, the Lakers are facing an uphill climb to get out of the play-in bracket, but they may be better off just accepting their fate.
Last season, the Lakers proved that the play-in was no problem for them and they took care of business en route to a Conference Finals run. This time, however, the path might not be so easy.
Amid questions about the roster and the coach, the Lakers will have to battle against a Conference that includes stars like Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kawhi Leonard, and Kevin Durant, among others.
The odds are stacked against them, but if the Lakers can turn the tides and win as presently constructed, it will be the ultimate validation for their season and validation for Ham’s long-term future with the Purple and Gold.
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