Darvin Ham’s entire coaching tree recently got fired along with him, but his family tree is still doing pretty well.
The Cleveland Cavaliers announced on Thursday their full and official coaching staff for the 2024-25 NBA season. Perhaps the most notable addition was DJ Ham, who has been hired by the team as a player development coach and video assistant.
DJ is the son of the ex-Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin. His real name is Darvin Ham Jr, and he had served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Northwood University from 2018-22. DJ then went on to spend the last two seasons as an assistant for the Cleveland Charge (the Cavaliers’ G League affiliate) and has now been promoted to the bench of the NBA team.
That is a fitting new job for DJ as he is following the lead of his father, who has over a decade of experience as an NBA assistant. Of course, Darvin’s stock tanked after his relative failure of a stint as head coach of the Lakers (in which he was fired after just two seasons having become very unpopular within the locker room despite leading them to a Western Conference Finals berth in 2023). But Darvin has since secured an assistant job with a notable NBA contender, and now his son will be coaching in the exact same division as well.
