Lakers Rumors: Ham Didn't Allow Reaves, D'Lo to Correct Mistakes Like Prince, Reddish

In the aftermath of Monday's season-ending loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 5 of the NBA playoffs, Darvin Ham's decision-making with the roster over the course of this season has led to questions about his future as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Per The Athletic's Shams Charania, Jovan Buha and Sam Amick, people within the Lakers organization felt like Ham was too willing to give opportunities to players like Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish to work through their struggles in ways that others like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and D'Angelo Russell were not:

"There was a sense among people within the organization that Prince and Reddish—a 24-year-old minimum contract signing—were given opportunities to fail and play through their mistakes during the regular season, a luxury that Reaves, Russell, Hachimura and others weren't afforded."

It's unclear exactly what more Ham could have done to allow Reaves, Russell and Hachimura more time to figure things out. Reaves and Russell averaged career-highs in minutes per game this season.

Hachimura's 26.9 minutes per game was his most since the 2020-21 season.

By comparison, Reddish set a career-low with 20.5 minutes per game. He only played more than 20 minutes once in his final 13 games.

Prince had his most playing time by minutes per game (27.0) since his last full season with the Brooklyn Nets in 2019-20 (29.0). His playing time decreased over the final month of the season.

Ham explained early in the season he felt Reddish and Jarred Vanderbilt would be "confused" at times when they got the ball when discussing if that pairing was viable together.

There were complaints made about Ham's rotation choices throughout the season. Charania and Buha reported on Jan. 4 there was a "deepening disconnect" between Lakers players and their head coach because of his "extreme rotation and starting lineup adjustments" that led to a "fluctuating rhythm for several players across the roster."

After the Lakers' loss to the Nuggets in Game 2, Anthony Davis seemed to put blame on Ham by saying there are "stretches where we just don't know what we're doing on both ends of the floor and those are the ones that have cost us."

Given all of the talk that has followed Ham over the course of this season, combined with another disappointing playoff showing against the Nuggets, it wouldn't be a surprise if the Lakers make a change at head coach.

Ham just finished his second season leading the Lakers. He owns a 90-74 record with playoff appearances in both seasons.