The Los Angeles Lakers are usually not shy about trying a different voice in the locker room, but they are in no rush to get rid of Darvin Ham. In fact, according to The Atheltic’s Jovan Buha, Ham will likely be the coach for at least the rest of this season barring any extreme circumstances.
“My understanding is that Ham will be safe through the rest of the season. There is always a chance things with the Lakers go haywire, as they nearly did at the beginning of January when the team lost four consecutive games with matchups with the LA Clippers, Phoenix Suns, Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks looming,” wrote Jovan Buha of The Athletic. “But the Lakers responded well by winning four of their next six games, including victories over the Clippers, Thunder and Mavericks in impressive fashion. Those results quieted the noise around the performance of the coaching staff.”
The Lakers have had an up-and-down season, highlighted by their in-season tournament win this December. But ever since leaving Las Vegas, the Lakers have struggled to get a grip on their play and have slid down to 9th in the Western Conference standings.
Ham, who was hired in 2022, was brought in to bridge the gap between Russell Westbrook and the rest of the roster. And while he failed in that mission, Ham was able to find success last season after a slew of trades that saw Westbrook replaced with role-players such as D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and Jarred Vanderbilt. After leading the Lakers to the West Finals in May, the Lakers gained newfound confidence in their chances to win the title and came into this season fully expecting to compete with the best.
So far, that just hasn’t been the case and Darvin Ham has been exposed as part of the reason why. His frequent rotation changes and questionable lineup decisions have cost the Lakers this season… but it seems Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss still believe in his ability to bring out the most of this team. Right now, Ham isn’t worried at all about his NBA future and is confident that he has more time to run this team back to success.
As presently constructed, it’s hard not to feel like the Lakers are stuck. While LeBron James and Anthony Davis play like All-NBA players, it’s clear that the supporting cast just isn’t good enough to get them over the edge. Outside of the top three players, there’s nobody to consistently rely on in this Lakers roster and it could force Rob Pelinka to consider a number of trades this February.
With a need for ball handling, playmaking, and (most importantly) perimeter shooting, the Lakers are expected to be aggressive in their pursuit of talent and they will leave no stone unturned in their search for upgrades at nearly every position. With LeBron James having recently celebrated his 39th birthday, the time is now for the Lakers to win and the pressure has never been higher to make something of this season. For Ham, he’s got control to do whatever he wants with this team but if they fall short in the postseason, he may actually have a reason to doubt his job security moving forward.
