{"id":72987,"date":"2024-04-12T13:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T17:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=72987"},"modified":"2024-04-12T13:00:30","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T17:00:30","slug":"darvin-ham-rumors-cloud-lakers-play-in-fate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/12\/darvin-ham-rumors-cloud-lakers-play-in-fate\/","title":{"rendered":"Darvin Ham Rumors Cloud Lakers&#8217; Play-in Fate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the Los Angeles Lakers gear up for another trip to the Play-in Tournament, it appears the fans aren\u2019t the only ones dissatisfied with head coach Darvin Ham. According to Ashish Mathur of Hoops Wire, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hoopswire.com\/phil-handy-darvin-ham-los-angeles-lakers-nba-rumors-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">some players wanted Ham gone earlier this season<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Darvin Ham Rumors Cloud Lakers&#8217; Play-in Fate<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>The Latest on Darvin Ham<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mathur reported that the players preferred assistant coach Phil Handy over Ham this season, so much so that they thought he could replace the second-year head coach:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A source told Hoops Wire that Lakers players wanted assistant coach Phil Handy to replace Ham earlier in the season. However, Los Angeles owner Jeanie Buss is a fan of Ham and she has never thought about firing him as coach, the source said.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><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\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a>\u00a0were particularly\u00a0critical of Ham, according to Mathur:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hachimura is another player who trusts Handy over Ham, the source said. And Davis, one of the top defensive players in the NBA, has never been a fan of Ham\u2019s drop coverage defensive tactic, the source said.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, although LeBron James has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/10116243-what-lebron-james-opting-out-would-mean-for-los-angeles-lakers\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">never publicly criticized Ham<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, his actions have spoken louder than his words.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LeBron says he vetoed Darvin Ham\u2019s coaching in the comeback win against the Clippers \ud83d\udc40 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AxttZ2ecP5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/AxttZ2ecP5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LakeShowYo\/status\/1772996030675705911?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 27, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ham\u2019s questionable decisions\u2014from mismanaging rotations to finding the right lineup too late into the season\u2014are a key factor in why LA has gone 45-35 this season. Instead of getting out of the Play-in, they moved from the ninth to the eighth seed before dropping to tenth. The Lakers will now have to win two Play-in games just to face the Denver Nuggets in the first round.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Implications for Ham and LA\u2019s Future<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the Lakers\u2019 season ends with an early trip to Cancun, there will be serious conversations regarding Ham\u2019s future with the franchise. Mathur noted that players will be speaking to GM Rob Pelinka about Ham in their exit meetings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an offseason already riddled with decisions\u2014which now includes <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/12\/lakers-anthony-davis-trade-2024-nba-draft-lottery-pick\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">who to draft in the first-round<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014the Lakers will need to critically address their needs this offseason. The head coaching situation should be priority number one. Ham\u2019s unpopularity is evident everywhere but the top. Though the team\u2019s brass is reluctant to let Ham go, perhaps these exit meetings and the result of this season will be enough to change their minds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, even if Darvin Ham is gone, the question immediately goes to his replacement, and the solution won\u2019t come easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Honest question. If the Lakers\u2019 season ends next week I\u2019m assuming yall believe Ham should be gone.<\/p>\n<p>I believe so as well. But if we do that, who\u2019s the viable replacement.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t want this revolving door of hiring someone, scapegoating them and firing them and then hiring\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Richard Staple, BSN, RN\ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf2 (@RichStapless) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RichStapless\/status\/1778055831516291527?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lakers could <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/josh2saint\/status\/1778208275512832058\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">replace Ham with Handy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like the Cavs did with Ty Lue and David Blatt, but that could be easier said than done. They could also turn to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BronToAD\/status\/1778126594059415855\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a top assistant from another team<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, one geared more towards tactics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regardless, the conversations of a \u201cnew head coach\u201d will only begin if the Lakers move on from their current one. It took the Lakers a season and a half to figure out that the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/westbru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Russell Westbrook<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> experiment failed. Two seasons is enough time to see that the Darvin Ham experiment should be over, too.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Los Angeles Lakers gear up for another trip to the Play-in Tournament, it appears the fans aren\u2019t the only ones dissatisfied with head coach Darvin Ham. According to Ashish Mathur of Hoops Wire, some players wanted Ham gone earlier this season. Darvin Ham Rumors Cloud Lakers&#8217; Play-in Fate The Latest on Darvin Ham [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":72993,"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":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62],"tags":[240,3839,38,1749],"class_list":["post-72987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-anthony-davis","tag-darvin-ham","tag-lebron-james","tag-rui-hachimura"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72987","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\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}