Lakers part ways with head coach Darvin Ham after two season
After two seasons at the helm, the Los Angeles Lakers have parted ways with head coach Darvin Ham on Friday after back-to-back seasons losing to the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs.
On Wednesday, May 1, the Lakers conducted exit interviews with their players, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. The interviews were to evaluate the season and the future of Ham as head coach. His fate was met two days later, as Los Angeles now prepares to hire its fourth head coach since LeBron James joined the team.
“It’s been a hell of a two years sitting in this seat, I’ll tell you that. It’s been a hell of a two years,” Ham said after the Lakers Game 5 series-ending loss to the Nuggets.
In his two years as Los Angeles’ head coach, Ham finished with a 90-74 regular season record and a 9-12 playoff record.
Ham was an assistant coach for 11 years with the Lakers (2011–13), Hawks (2013–18), and Bucks (2018–22), before getting his first opportunity as an NBA head coach with the Lakers in 2022. Before coming to Los Angeles, Ham was a part of a championship season as an assistant coach with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in the 20
The former 10-year NBA veteran had memorable moments coaching for L.A., taking a seventh-seed play-in Lakers team to the Western Conference in 2022 and the NBA’s first In-Season Tournament Cup Championship the following year in 2023. But with both seasons ending in the hands of the Denver Nuggets mixed with a short window of James’ career coming closer to an end, the margin for error is smaller in creating a championship team with the 39-year-old not having to have big production to be successful.
The next step is to find the best-suited head coach ahead of the NBA draft, which starts on Thursday, June 27. Those candidates include Mike Budenholzer, Kenny Atkinson, and J.J. Redick.
Budenholzer, who has 10 seasons under his belt as an NBA head coach (17 as an assistant coach), was the head coach of the Bucks team that won the NBA championship with Ham as his assistant coach.
Atkinson is currently an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors, where he’s held that position for the past three seasons. He only had one stint as a head coach in the NBA from 2016 to 2020 with the Brooklyn Nets. He made the plays once (first-round exit) in those four seasons, having a 118-190 regular-season record and a 1-4 playoff record.
Redick has been rumored as a potential hire for Los Angeles. The former 15-year NBA veteran interviewed with the Charlotte Hornets for the team's head-coaching opening, as reported by the Athletic's Shams Charania.
Current Clippers head coach Ty Lue, if he becomes available, is another possible candidate for Los Angeles's helm. He interviewed with the Lakers before the Ham hiring.
