Former Lakers HC Darvin Ham Says You Have to 'Gut Your Team' to Add Russell Westbrook
Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham provided some insight this week into his tenure as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and how it was impacted by Russell Westbrook.
During an appearance on the Hoop Genius Podcast (h/t HoopsHype), Ham discussed the Lakers trading for Westbrook to play alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis in 2021 and how it required the organization to move on from some key depth players in the process.
"But in terms of Russ, man, you know, it was a difficult situation," Ham said. "Cause to get a player like that, you pretty much have to gut your team. And that's essentially what happened. In order to get Russ on the Lakers, they had to part ways with Alex Caruso. They had to part ways with KCP [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope], Kyle Kuzma, a lot of other players they weren't able to get because the money wasn't there because now you have three essentially supermax players on your roster.
"And now you got to go after lower-level players who, God bless, they're capable players, but to be elite to win a championship in our league, you have to be elite and have an elite group. And a lot of times the financial constrictions won't allow you to do so."
During the 2022-23 season, which was Ham's first of two campaigns as head coach of the Lakers, L.A. traded Westbrook and he ultimately landed with the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Lakers reached the Western Conference Finals in 2023, but after a first-round playoff exit in 2024, Ham was fired and replaced by JJ Redick.
While Westbrook is a likely future Hall of Famer with nine All-Star selections, two scoring titles and an NBA MVP Award to his credit, he never seemed to mesh properly with James and Davis.
In his only full season with the Lakers, the team went 33-49 and missed the playoffs, although much of that had to do with injuries limited James and Davis to 56 and 40 games, respectively.
Frank Vogel was fired as head coach as a result of that record, just two years after guiding the Lakers to a championship.
Ham replaced Vogel, and the decision was made to transition Westbrook into a bench role for the first time in his career.
Westbrook didn't adapt particularly well, shooting just 41.7 percent from the field in 52 games before the Lakers traded him.
While Westbrook often receives blame for the Lakers' struggles during his time with the organization, Ham praised his approach (h/t Newsbreak.com).
"Russ is one of the most professional guys I've ever been around," Ham said. "He keeps himself in shape—that's why he's still playing. I think this is his 18th season at the position he plays. He stays at a very high level in terms of conditioning and constantly works on his craft.
"All of his teammates—wherever he's played—always have nothing but the utmost respect and love for him. As a coach, we're constantly trying to figure out how to extract the best possible results from our group. But once you walk out of that locker room, you no longer control how those individual players mesh."
When the Lakers won their most recent championship in 2020, James and Davis were the stars, but Kuzma, Caldwell-Pope and Caruso were among those who had meaningful contributions as well.
Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope were part of the Westbrook trade, and the Lakers lost Caruso to the Chicago Bulls in free agency.
It took some time for the Lakers to rebuild their depth after that, but it can be argued that their roster this season is as deep as it has been in years with Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton, Rui Hachimura, Jake LaRavia, Marcus Smart, Dalton Knecht and others supplementing James and Luka Dončić.
Trading for a big name like Westbrook can seem like a good idea at times, but as Ham pointed out, there are sacrifices that have to be made in doing so, and they don't always yield positive results.
