Last year, the Los Angeles Lakers hired Darvin Ham to be their head coach, and at the time, he was considered a hot commodity around the NBA.
He was interviewed by a number of teams other than Los Angeles, and he had a succinct message to Marc Stein about those other teams that didn’t hire him.
“They f–ked up royally,” Ham said.
Stein and Ham mentioned 10 teams, other than the Lakers, that interviewed Ham but ultimately decided to pass on the former NBA player.
Ham had been an assistant coach for a number of years, most notably with the Milwaukee Bucks under Mike Budenholzer. Together, they won a championship in 2021, and that experience undoubtedly helped Ham become an attractive head coaching candidate in 2022.
The Lakers had just finished a hugely disastrous season in which they attempted to form a superteam by adding Russell Westbrook to the proven championship superstar duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But Westbrook didn’t fit in, and the team failed to reach the play-in tournament.
The fall guy for that failure seemed to be Frank Vogel, the coach who had guided Los Angeles to the world title in 2020. He was fired right after the conclusion of the regular season, opening up the door for Ham to take over.
This past season, Ham had his share of rookie growing pains. Fans criticized him for some of his rotations and lineups, and a few even blamed him for the team’s struggles during the first half of the schedule.
But the Lakers miraculously turned things around after making some midseason trades, and Ham was able to guide them to the Western Conference Finals.
All of a sudden, they appear to have a real shot at winning it all this coming season.
Ham has gotten lots of praise, especially for his leadership, motivation and steady hand. He kept his team in one piece as it worked hard just to remain within striking distance of .500. Now, he will have a chance to go all the way as a head coach, just as he did as an assistant with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
