{"id":129820,"date":"2025-03-21T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=129820"},"modified":"2025-03-21T01:14:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T05:14:52","slug":"doc-rivers-darvin-hams-lakers-revenge-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/21\/doc-rivers-darvin-hams-lakers-revenge-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"Doc Rivers Dismisses Darvin Ham&#8217;s Lakers Revenge Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers had a playful response when asked if his assistant coach Darvin Ham views <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Thursday&#8217;s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> matchup against the Lakers as<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> &#8216;<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">revenge.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8216; <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rivers joked, saying,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> \u201c<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Yeah, he told me he wants to kick the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Lakers\u2019 <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">ass<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.\u201d Rivers and his team faced the Lakers on Thursday night for the second and final time of the regular season. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Bucks coach Doc Rivers asked if Darvin Ham views this game as a revenge game against the Lakers. Doc joked, \u201cYeah, he told me he wants to kick the Lakers\u2019 ass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarkG_Medina\/status\/1902900007981944914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Doc Rivers Dismisses Darvin Ham&#8217;s Lakers Revenge Narrative<\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Lakers entered <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Thursday&#8217;s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> contest against the Bucks shorthanded. L.A. was without four <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">of its<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> top players, including <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hachiru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rui Hachimura<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Reaves<\/a>. Their matchup against the Bucks is the second night of a back-to-back for L.A. It is also their sixth game in eight nights. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rivers&#8217;<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> comments come after Ham coached the Lakers for the last two seasons. Ham was hired by the Lakers in the summer of 2022 after L.A. let go of champion head coach Frank Vogel. For the Lakers, the thought process of hiring Ham was simple. The Lakers valued his championship pedigree as an assistant and player. He also could relate to players and was familiar with the franchise, particularly his time with the Lakers as a player. Ultimately, the Lakers were sold on his experience and toughness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">While Ham sold the front office, none of that translated for the Lakers in his two seasons at the helm. From the outside looking in, Ham was just fine in Los Angeles. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/hamda01c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ham<\/a> posted a 90-74 record at the helm over two seasons. He also did his part to help advance L.A. to the Western Conference Finals in 2023, their first appearance since the 2019-20 season. However, being eliminated by the Nuggets in the first round last season <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">happened to be<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> the final nail in the coffin for <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Ham&#8217;s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> time in L.A. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Ham consistently made puzzling decisions<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, both<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in terms of personnel and in-game strategy, often failing to make even the most basic adjustments.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> It became increasingly clear that the Lakers needed to move on\u2014not just because of his questionable choices but also because he had lost the trust of the locker room. Once a head coach loses the team&#8217;s trust, there is usually no turning back.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0That was ultimately the case with Ham, leading the Lakers to part ways with him and turn to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/17\/lakers-news-jj-redick-jordan-goodwin-contract\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">JJ Redick<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Darvin Ham Ripped Lakers in Fiery Rant After NBA Cup Win<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">After the Bucks won the NBA Cup title this season, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/12\/darvin-ham-breaks-silence-on-lakers-tenure\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Ham called out the Lakers<\/a>. He said if he had done what <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">he<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> did in L.A. anywhere else, he would have received an extension.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cT<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">o do as well as I did, I swear to God, anywhere <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">else<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I\u2019m<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> probably looking at an extension with what I did,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201d <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Ham\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/andscape.com\/features\/milwaukee-bucks-assistant-coach-darvin-ham-in-a-great-space-in-return-to-coaching\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">said<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201c<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I\u2019m<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> not talking about feelings. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I\u2019m<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> talking <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">actual<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> facts. They go from not making it to the playoffs to the final four in the NBA, the conference finals. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">And then<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> you win the in-season tournament, navigate through all the injuries and win both of your play-in games to get to the playoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cP<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">eople always talk about us losing to Denver, but they never talk about how we got to Denver. We beat a kick-ass young squad in Memphis <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> we beat Golden State<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">While Ham did <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">fine<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, it was not enough for the Lakers. Ham is proving his value as one of the top assistants on a competitive Bucks squad. Whether he remains an assistant or lands another head coaching job Ham will always have some extra motivation going against the Lakers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: \u00a9 Benny Sieu-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers had a playful response when asked if his assistant coach Darvin Ham views Thursday&#8217;s matchup against the Lakers as &#8216;revenge.&#8216; Rivers joked, saying, \u201cYeah, he told me he wants to kick the Lakers\u2019 ass.\u201d Rivers and his team faced the Lakers on Thursday night for the second and final [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5473,"featured_media":129835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,15,62],"tags":[3839,190],"class_list":["post-129820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-bucks","category-nba","tag-darvin-ham","tag-doc-rivers"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5473"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129820"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129836,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129820\/revisions\/129836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}