Biggest Reason Why Lakers Must Fire Darvin Ham

Biggest Reason Why Lakers Must Fire Darvin Ham

Darvin Ham’s time with the Los Angeles Lakers has been something of a mixed bag. He has recorded two consecutive middling regular seasons and one run to the Western Conference Finals.

On paper, that isn’t too bad. But when you factor in that he has arguably the greatest player of all time on his roster, Ham’s performance begins to fall apart under scrutiny.

His decision to beef with the franchise’s golden boy and him vetoing what could have been a massive trade at the deadline also don’t help the perception of his decision-making.

Wednesday night the Sacramento Kings beat the Lakers 130-120. As usual, Ham’s gameplanning was unimpressive to say the least.

L.A. is now 34-30 and sits 10th in the Western Conference.

This week NBA analyst Jason Timpf succinctly laid out the case for why Ham must be fired: he simply doesn’t have what it takes to lead a team like the Lakers.

“I don’t think Darvin (Ham) is up to the tactical challenge,” he said.

“He’s the one after the in-season tournament to ditch everything that got them that win and promptly went 3-10. He is the one who, in a lot of these cases, is ignoring guys who can make shots on the perimeter and letting them get into a rhythm.

“I want LeBron and AD to be like, ‘Hey AD, you got to guard Jokic. Put me on AG and put Rui over here’. I want them to take more of that responsibility because sitting around and letting Darvin make those decisions. Him overcoaching this has been why they’ve been mediocre compared to their potential.”

The Lakers could still do what they did last season and make a deep playoff run.

If that happens, maybe Ham’s job will be saved.

But things aren’t looking good at the moment.

Will Ham still be the Lakers’ head coach when the 2024-25 NBA season tips off? Time will tell.