Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham’s second season at the helm ended the same way the first one did, with defeat at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. During his postgame press conference after Game 5, Ham was asked to encapsulate his two seasons as head coach in which he has faced a lot of scrutiny.
“It’s tough, my mind’s all over the place right now so, that’s a great question but maybe at some point later on I’ll give you an answer,” Ham said. “It’s been a hell of a two years, though, I’ll tell you that, sitting in this seat. It’s been a hell of a two years, a lot of good things that got done but ultimately you want to win that ultimate prize.”
Ham’s tenure as head coach has been a bit of a mixed bag. The run to the Western Conference Finals last year was quite impressive, as was victory in the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament in 2023.
On the other hand, the Lakers only finished with a 43-39 record in his first season and were 47-35 this time around. They had to go through the NBA Play-In Tournament to even make it to the playoffs.
While the regular season struggles last season could somewhat be forgiven due to the whole Russell Westbrook situation, the Lakers came into this campaign with a lot of expectations and didn’t even come close to matching them. Getting eliminated in the first round itself, even if it was by the Nuggets, was quite disappointing too.
Another knock on Ham, especially this season, was all the changes he made to the starting lineup and to their rotations. It wasn’t ideal for the players at all and he seemed to make them unhappy with it.
Reportedly, Lakers players were frustrated after Ham benched D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves during the season. Team officials and the players blamed all that chopping and changing, and the lack of adjustments for the Lakers underperforming in 2023-24. When you consider all of that, the writing is pretty much on the wall.
Darvin Ham’s Time As Head Coach Likely To Come To An End
Ham stated that it has been a hell of a two years sitting on that seat and it seems likely that is all the time he will get. As per The Athletic, Ham is unlikely to return as Lakers head coach next season.
“The Lakers’ unflattering finish leaves Ham’s future as head coach in serious peril, multiple league and team sources tell The Athletic, with some stakeholders indicating it’s highly unlikely he’ll return. The plan is to reassess everything that went wrong in the coming days before making a final decision. In 2022, Ham signed a four-year deal in the range of $5 million per season, so the team would be assuming the remainder of his deal if he is fired.”
The coach is often the one to get the boot if the season ends poorly and with Ham not having made the greatest of impressions in 2023-24, his time seems up. Do I think he has been scapegoated a little bit? Sure, but he hasn’t done himself any favors with some of the things he did and didn’t do over the course of the season.
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