Report: Darvin Ham Left People 'In and Around' Lakers Impressed During 1st Season

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham earned a lot of goodwill from the organization for his performance in the postseason.

Per Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, Ham left people "in and around" the Lakers "impressed" with the job he did to get this team to the Western Conference Finals.

"We've got a good one," one Lakers player told Woike following Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets.

Ham was given a difficult task when he was hired in June 2022 to replace Frank Vogel as the Lakers head coach. The 49-year-old went into the season trying to navigate with Russell Westbrook having an uncertain role and LeBron James openly talking about the lack of shooting on the roster.

While no one was calling for Ham's firing when the team got off to a 2-10 start, the situation was such a mess it wouldn't have been a surprise if he wound up being one-and-done.

They were able to do that despite completely revamping their roster around James and Anthony Davis before the trade deadline. James and Davis combined to miss 53 games due to injuries, which only made things more difficult for Ham.

Instead, the Lakers turned a corner after that by going 42-29 over the final 71 games. They earned the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play-in tournament.

Los Angeles kept the positive momentum going by defeating the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round and Golden State Warriors in the second round. The team finally ran out of gas against the Nuggets in the conference finals, but this season should be thought of as an unqualified success for Ham based on where it looked like this squad was headed.

Being a first-time head coach only makes what Ham did with the Lakers even more impressive. He had plenty of coaching experience in 14 seasons as an assistant, including winning an NBA title as part of Mike Budenholzer's staff with the 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks.

But stepping into the main chair as a head coach, particularly in a pressure-packed situation with the Lakers, is a different task entirely. He handled things very well and has the team in a good position to be competitive going forward.