Darvin Ham’s two seasons coaching the Los Angeles Lakers were filled with some Hollywood-caliber drama.
Now Ham is finally speaking out about how he was treated by the team.
According to Andscape, per Legion Hoops, Ham said this about the Lakers:
“To do as well as I did… I swear to God, anywhere else I’m probably looking at an extension. I’m not talking feelings, just facts. They go from not making the playoffs to the Conference Finals, and we won the in-season tournament… people always talk about us losing to Denver, but they don’t talk about how we got to Denver. We beat a kick-ass young squad in Memphis, and we beat Stephen Curry and Golden State.”
Darvin Ham goes at the Lakers… my goodness:
“To do as well as I did… I swear to God, anywhere else I’m probably looking at an extension. I’m not talking feelings, just facts. They go from not making the playoffs to the Conference Finals, and we won the in-season tournament…… pic.twitter.com/WMERa90saB
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) December 18, 2024
When Ham was fired last summer, he didn’t say much, choosing to instead hold his tongue before taking a job as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks under Doc Rivers.
But he obviously doesn’t like what transpired between him and the Lakers.
He feels the team found a lot of great success because of his leadership, and there is no doubt they did great things during the 2022–23 season.
After a rough start to the year, the Lakers got it together in the second half of the season and went all the way to the Western Conference Finals.
That was remarkable, but the following season was filled with problems, including questionable roster choices picked by Ham.
When they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, most fans were crying out for Ham to go.
It didn’t solve all their problems, obviously, but it made sense to the Lakers at the time.
Ham thinks he should have been given an extension, not his walking papers, but the Lakers had different plans.
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