Darvin Ham coached the Los Angeles Lakers to the first-ever in-season event title in league historical past, however the group’s shortcomings within the NBA playoffs value him his job.
In accordance with a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers knowledgeable Ham on Friday that they have been firing him after two years on the group’s bench.
Ham led the Lakers to a 90-74 report in his two years as head coach and a visit to the Western Convention Finals in his first 12 months.
However the 2023-24 season ended up being an enormous disappointment, particularly as a result of the group’s prime two stars — LeBron James and Anthony Davis — have been more healthy and performed extra video games collectively than they’d in years.
Regardless of having each of them within the lineup for the majority of the season, the Lakers nonetheless wanted to win two play-in video games simply to turn out to be the No. 7 seed within the Western Convention.
It was in that spot that they needed to face the Denver Nuggets in a rematch of final 12 months’s Western Convention Remaining and have been crushed in simply 5 video games. It was an unsightly collection for the Lakers, as they blew double-digit leads in all 4 losses, together with a crushing Sport 2 loss during which they let a 20-point second-half lead slip away.
The dearth of outcomes made it clear {that a} change could possibly be on the horizon, however LeBron’s visibly angered response to Ham’s not difficult a name was the nail within the coffin.