Darvin Ham is leaning on an old friend as he enters his first season as an NBA head coach.
The new Los Angeles Lakers coach Ham revealed to reporters on Tuesday that former Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder is among several friends and colleagues in the business whom he has gotten advice from. Ham added that he calls Snyder specifically a few times per week.
“[He’s my] pro bono coaching assistant,” said Ham of Snyder, per Lakers reporter Mike Trudell.
Ham and Snyder had multiple stints working together on the same coaching staff. They were both assistants for the Lakers under then-head coach Mike Brown during the 2011-12 season. Ham then stayed on for another season on Mike D’Antoni’s staff (after Brown was dismissed), and Snyder became an assistant coach for Russian club CSKA Moscow for a year. The two men then reunited on the Atlanta Hawks coaching staff for the 2013-14 season (under Mike Budenholzer) before Snyder took the Utah job.
The 55-year-old Snyder is in a gap year of sorts after resigning from the Jazz ahead of what would have been his ninth season as their coach. But Snyder is obviously keeping close to basketball, lending credence to the theory that he could be back as a coach before long (perhaps with this other NBA team).
