Darvin Ham is getting brutally honest about his time as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ top assistant coach, who is now the only person to win both iterations of the NBA Cup, returned to Milwaukee after departing from his Lakers head coach position. So far, the move seems to have worked out considering they wasted little time to win a trophy.
After the Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 on Tuesday to claim the Cup, he spoke to Marc J. Spears of Andscape to reflect:
“I’ve been super-duper excited to be a part of both—the inaugural and now this one. Two generational talents in both [LeBron James] and Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. Lead one and ride shotgun for the other,” he said.
Despite the win, Ham also took the time to discuss what he felt went wrong with the Lakers: “It’s being reported like I’m just throwing some lineups up against the wall to see what sticks. No, man, we were really navigating a lot — from guys being hurt to having the oldest player in the league [James] to managing A.D.’s injury history. It was a lot,”
In his two seasons at the Lakers, Ham posted a 90-74 regular-season record, although the Denver Nuggets eliminated the Lakers from the playoffs in both seasons. “People always talk about us losing to Denver, but they never talk about how we got to Denver,” he said. “We beat a kick-a** young squad in Memphis, and we beat Golden State.”
He added how the team improved under his watch: “To be 33-49 when I was hired, with an unbalanced roster, turn that around, make it to the Western Conference Finals. The very next year, we were a plus-10 in wins, going from 33-49 to 43-39. And guys got paid on my watch.“
After the Lakers parted ways with Ham at the end of the 2023-24 season, they hired JJ Redick as his replacement. So far, the Lakers are 14-12 and are sitting in 10th in the Western Conference — hardly an improvement under the new man. This stagnation, in addition to Ham’s comments, would suggest that the Laker’s issues lie in their roster, rather than the coaching.
