An NBA insider has updated the possibility of Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham being in jeopardy of losing his job amid the team’s poor play in the recent weeks.
Since winning the NBA In-Season Tournament, the Lakers are 5-10 and just on the line of a play-in game for the playoffs.
Ham’s team came into the season with a top three of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves. But nine games into the season Ham removed Reaves from the starting lineup. This became news, especially since Reaves received so much attention for how he played in last season’s playoffs.
D’Angelo Russell, who the Lakers picked up in a trade last season, was inserted in Reaves’ spot, which seemed to work for a while, then he was replaced by Jarred Vanderbilt. Reaves has since gone back into the starting lineup.
Los Angeles Lakers woes seemed to indicate a possible coaching change
The Lakers are 24th in the NBA in offensive rating and no team that ranks below them has a winning record. They’re 29th in offensive rebounding percentage.
The Lakers can’t score from 3-point range. They’re 25th in 3-point percentage. They’re at the bottom of the league in 3-point attempts and makes.
Rumors were swirling that the team had lost faith and there was a possible mutiny on the horizon.
But a report from The Athletic said that while Ham has issues to solve in the locker room, he has the support of Lakers owner Jeanie Buss.
NBA insider Sam Amick wrote in The Athletic: “Unlike the (Frank) Vogel situation, where Buss was known to believe the former coach was largely to blame for the failed integration of Russell Westbrook and ultimately greenlighted his April 2022 firing as a result, all signs point to the Lakers’ most important decision-maker standing by the coach, who is in the second year of a four-year deal.
“There’s a mutual respect in that relationship, one that resulted in Buss sending a lengthy text message of support to Ham in the wake of Thursday’s report in The Athletic that chronicled the rising pressure that surrounds him. Buss could certainly change her stance, of course, but the current state of affairs suggests Ham still has time to turn this around.”
Often, getting the owner’s support is a kiss of death for coaches and front-office executives, but Ham seems pretty confident here.