We can probably assume the Los Angeles Lakers will have a new head coach next season at this point.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Jovan Buha and Sam Amick wrote a postmortem for the Lakers following their elimination from the 2024 NBA playoffs, and head coach Darvin Ham was a regular target of criticism.
The feeling might be mutual. Dave McMenamin of ESPN quoted Ham as saying this season has “been extremely challenging” before using much more candid language.
“Everyone that’s been in and out of the lineup. Being criticized for not having a consistent rotation when I don’t have consistent healthy bodies,” he said. “The thing that frustrates me, and I love this job, I love the pressure that comes with it, I’ve always been calm in the midst of chaos … [But] common sense tends to go out the window when you talk about my job in particular.
“It’s amazing how people just skip that core part of having a consistency with your lineup is all predicated on health and performance. If you’re coaching a team and one of your starters is like 10 games in a row, just s–tting the bed, what are you going to do?”
Readers are left to connect the dots regarding who Ham was referring to.
Austin Reaves is a logical candidate since he got benched after the Lakers’ eighth game of the regular season. Taurean Prince was likewise demoted, albeit much deeper into the campaign. Maybe his ire was directed at D’Angelo Russell, who was a regular fixture in the starting lineup but had a characteristically up-and-down year.
More than anything, Ham’s comments reinforce how it’s difficult to envision him staying in the role for much longer.
The die might’ve been cast with how the 50-year-old addressed a candid assessment by star forward Anthony Davis midway through the first round.
Following a Game 2 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Davis told reporters the Lakers “have stretches where we just don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor.”
Spectrum SportsNet @SpectrumSN
Anthony Davis: “We have stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor… Just got to get it right on Thursday.” pic.twitter.com/4agots9D6L
Rather than singling out the coaching staff, that could’ve been read as a wider indictment of the team. Ham made it clear how he interpreted the postgame interview when he said he “would agree to disagree” before defending the preparation level of him and his staff.
Michael Corvo @michaelcorvo_
Darvin Ham said he took Anthony Davis’ comments after G2 that the Lakers “have stretches when we don’t know what we’re doing” as “frustration”, and he’ll “agree to disagree” with AD.
Ham said the Lakers coaching staff prides itself on being organized. pic.twitter.com/WtEzhYiW4I
McMenamin cited a Lakers source who “was confounded by Ham’s lack of accountability” during that media scrum. The Athletic report added how it “was viewed as an unnecessary amplification of Davis’ comments, according to team sources.”
Not all of the team’s issues originate from the coach.
Especially in retrospect, president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka erred in thinking last year’s trip to the Western Conference Finals was indicative of what this roster could achieve. Simply running it back meant the squad was still lacking in shooting, and Davis could only do so much on his own to anchor the defense.
But the last two postseasons also showed the gulf between Ham and a championship-level NBA coach. For the second year in a row, the Nuggets’ Michael Malone simply out-schemed his opposite number.
Ham pointing to injuries and some lackluster effort by his players isn’t a great look when he seemingly brought so little to the table when his team needed a Plan B, C and D against Denver.
The ESPN and Athletic reports both said Los Angeles hasn’t made any final decisions on whether Ham will be retained. We all know where this is probably headed, though.
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