Darvin Ham still stunned by his Lakers firing

Nov 30, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham at a press conference during the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Is it often said that NBA head coaches are hired to be fired, and Darvin Ham seems to believe that is exactly what happened to him in Los Angeles.

Ham, who is currently an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, opened up about his brief tenure as head coach of the Lakers during an interview with Andscape’s Marc J. Spears that was published on Wednesday. Ham said he would have been signed to a contract extension had he been the coach of any other franchise.

“To do as well as I did, I swear to God, anywhere else I’m probably looking at an extension with what I did,” Ham said. “I’m not talking about feelings. I’m talking actual facts. They go from not making it to the playoffs to the final four in the NBA, the conference finals. And then you win the in-season tournament, navigate through all the injuries and win both of your play-in games to get to the playoffs.

Ham faced a lot of criticism over his in-game management during his two seasons with the Lakers. One player also seemed to question Ham’s work ethic. The 51-year-old feels most of that was unfair.

“I get it. The franchise I’m working for, the expectations can be unrealistic at certain points in time. To be 33-49 when I was hired, with an unbalanced roster, turn that around, make it to the Western Conference finals,” Ham told Spears. “The very next year we were a plus-10 in wins, going from 33-49 to 43-39. And guys got paid on my watch. It went from a lot of unknown scenarios to I think we have a little bit of a core. And then we got hit with the injury bug like crazy last [season]. We might have been Top 5 in games lost to injury.”

Ham went 90-74 in two seasons with the Lakers. He led the team to the Western Conference Finals in 2022-23, where they were swept by the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets. The Lakers then lost to Denver in five games in the opening round last season.

There were numerous reports claiming Ham and LeBron James did not see eye-to-eye toward the end of Ham’s tenure in L.A. That may have been the biggest factor in why Ham lost his job.

The NBA is a superstars’ league. If Ham did not get a fair shot with the Lakers, that is probably the main reason for it.