Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham knows his star player’s history just as well as anybody does.
Before the Lakers played the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Tuesday, Ham was asked about LeBron James’ glowing career record against the Cavs, James’ former team. Since he first left in 2010, James is 17-2 against Cleveland.
“It could be one or two things,” Ham replied. “[Either] he really wants to put on a show for his hometown crowd or he really doesn’t like Dan Gilbert.”
“It could be one or two things—it could be that he really wants to put on a show for his hometown crowd or, that he really doesn’t like Dan Gilbert.”
Darvin Ham when asked about LeBron's 17-2 record against the Cavaliers 🤣
(via @SpectrumSN)pic.twitter.com/DBaT017W1U
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 7, 2022
If it was not clear enough from the context of that video, Ham also later clarified that he was just joking, per Jason Lloyd of The Athletic.
James was drafted by the Cavs in 2003 and played the first seven seasons of his NBA career with them before leaving for the Miami Heat in 2010. James then returned to Cleveland in 2014 and played four more seasons with them (including leading them to an NBA title in 2016) before leaving again for the Lakers in 2018.
Amid all those ins and outs, James had a lot of drama with the Cavs owner Gilbert. In what is better known to the culture as “ComicSansgate,” Gilbert notoriously trashed James in an open letter to Cleveland fans when James first left in 2010. The two men eventually made peace before James’ return in 2014, but even in more recent years, it seemed like some tensions were still there.
Though James is now signed to the Lakers through at least 2024, there are inevitable rumors that he could return to the Cavs again to wrap up his NBA career … which would obviously lead to another round of Gilbert drama. But for now, we can just sit back and enjoy James’ head-to-head dominance of Cleveland (as well as Ham’s funny viral remark here).
