The situation for Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham seems to be deteriorating by the day and his locker room seems on the verge of a mutiny with player agents getting involved on behalf of their frustrated clients.
There was so much hope for the Lakers heading into their 2023-24 campaign. The organization did not bring in big name stars during the summer because they felt they did not have to. Instead, they retained many of the key players from a 2022-23 roster that surprised the NBA world to reach the Western Conference Finals last spring.
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The expectation was that they would be a power in the West during head coach Darvin Ham’s second season running the team. However, the roster is off to a similarly underwhelming start just like last year. They enter Sunday two games under .500 (17-19) and currently on the outside of the playoff picture.
Some players from last season are not having the years they did in 2022-23 and it has led the coach to trying many different lineups to figure out a recipe for success as they under perform again under his watch. However, his constant reworking of the rotations have rubbed some players the wrong way and opened the door to speculation he may not get out of the season as the Lakers head coach.
‘Frustration’ growing all around Los Angeles Lakers organization with Darvin Ham
That narrative was furthered on Saturday by Yahoo Sports NBA insider Jake Fischer. During a new edition of Yahoo’s “No Cap Room” podcast, he revealed a worrisome piece of new information about the worsening sitation between the head coach and his players.
“There’s just a lot of chatter from people around the organization that he’s not the guy that’s going to be able to get this thing over the hump,” Fischer said. “Now look, they were able to overcome a 2-10 start last season to make the Western Conference Finals. So he’s proven the ability to right a ship and steer them out of stormy waters to some beautiful island somewhere else in the postseason picture.
“But the noise is very loud,” he added, “There’s a lot of people very frustrated. A lot of agents calling the front office frustrated about their guys not getting the right opportunities.”
Entering their game on Sunday against a red-hot Los Angeles Clippers squad, the Lakers have lost four straight and all but one by double digits.
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