NBA Scout Defends Darvin Ham amid JJ Redick, Lakers' Woes: It's 'The F--king Roster'

The Los Angeles Lakers' current struggles appear to be retroactively helping Darvin Ham's reputation.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported that scouts around the NBA believe the Lakers issues are largely due to the state of the roster and that Ham should be absolved at least, in part, because of the hand he was dealt.

"It's been interesting to me, Darvin [Ham] took a lot of s--t last year," a Western Conference scout told McMenamin. "I think now you're seeing like, 'Oh, maybe it wasn't Darvin. Maybe it's the f--king roster.'"

Another scout built on the idea by saying the Lakers don't "have the personnel to be a good defensive team" and that the team needs a trade to shake up the roster.

"They need to trade for a good point-of-attack defender that can at least be capable of knocking down open shots," an Eastern Conference scout told McMenamin. "They don't have many perimeter defenders."

Los Angeles is currently 13-11 and sits in eighth place in the Western Conference. The team is 3-7 in its last 10 games and will need to get a positive boost to remain relevant in the competitive conference field.

Ham had been the coach of the Lakers in 2022-23 and 2023-24. He led the team to an overall record of 90-74 and two playoff appearances. Los Angeles reached the Conference Finals in 2022-23 but a first-round loss last season to the Denver Nuggets sealed his fate.

Ham is currently an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks while new Lakers coach JJ Redick has not necessarily elevated the team to this point early on in his tenure.