Darvin Ham Fired as Lakers HC After NBA Playoff Exit; Spent 2 Seasons in LA

Darvin Ham's tenure as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers lasted only two seasons.

Los Angeles fired Ham on Friday, the team announced in a statement:

The Lakers also fired the entire assistant coaching staff, according to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. Phil Handy, who coached under Ham and Frank Vogel in L.A., was among the assistants fired, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported the Lakers will have an "extensive" search for a new head coach and that Mike Budenholzer, Kenny Atkinson, JJ Redick and possibly Ty Lue will be candidates.

This is anything but a surprise considering the noise surrounding the coach after the Lakers lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Denver Nuggets in five games.

Charania, Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported on the situation following the loss and noted it was "highly unlikely" Ham would return following the "unflattering" postseason defeat.

While his "fluctuating rotations, game plans and lack of adjustments" were criticized, the report also noted he "created discontent within the locker room," which became "palpable" across the organization.

Expectations were high entering the season, but the Purple and Gold did not get off to an ideal start well before the postseason exit. Charania and Buha of The Athletic reported in January that a 3-9 stretch was "amplifying concerns about the direction of the season from both inside and outside the organization."

The two reported that there was a "deepening disconnect" between Ham and the Lakers locker room that was "raising questions about the head coach's standing" because of the "disjointedness" that "stemmed from the extreme rotation and starting lineup adjustments recently from Ham, leading to a fluctuating rhythm for several players across the roster."

Los Angeles' overall lack of continuity was seen as a contributing factor to the overall inconsistency as Ham attempted to push the right buttons for a perceived championship contender.

The noise didn't get any quieter when the Lakers fell to 24-25 with a late blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks and LeBron James sent out a cryptic tweet:

Ham—who was a player from 1996-97 through 2004-05 for the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons—had plenty of experience as an assistant for the Lakers, Hawks and Bucks before becoming the head coach in Los Angeles starting with the 2022-23 campaign.

His team went 43-39 and landed the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference during his inconsistent first season. The Lakers snuck past the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play-in tournament and then defeated the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Even though they were swept by the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, the overall postseason performance overshadowed an up-and-down regular season where Los Angeles looked like anything but one of the two best teams in the West.

Expectations were perhaps higher than they should have been entering the 2023-24 campaign because of that playoff run. After all, the Lakers were returning James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura, among others, and were seen as championship contenders.

Yet they once again settled for the play-in tournament at 47-35 and were unable to put together a deep postseason run this time.