Darvin Ham expected to be fired before the end of the week

Darvin Ham’s two-year tenure as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers appears to be coming to an end. The organization is expected to relieve him of his duties by the end of week. Speaking on The Athletic NBA Show, Jovan Buha stated:

The latest I’ve heard is the plan is still to move on from Darvin at some point, likely by the end of the week, potentially as early as tomorrow, then the head coaching search will start. I’ve already started to hear some names from different people. [h/t The Athletic]

The Lakers suffered a first-round postseason exit at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, losing in five games. They were not happy with Ham’s rotations, game plans and lack of adjustments throughout the season. Furthermore, there was a belief that he failed to consistently put the best players around Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

His decision to bench D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves was viewed as a key turning point as the team lost 10 of 13 games during the stretch. Meanwhile, Los Angeles’ Game 2 loss – in which they led by as many as 20 points – was reportedly a final straw.

Draymond Green does not believe Darvin Ham should be fired

While Darvin Ham has faced plenty of criticism, four-time NBA champion Draymond Green believes he deserves a third season leading the Los Angeles Lakers. Speaking on his self-titled podcast, the Golden State Warriors star stated:

What’s going to happen with Darvin Ham?. I think it would be wrong to fire him. He’ll catch a lot of flack for the season that they had. I think that’s garbage. Their roster didn’t get better than last year, and they were a play-in team. [h/t Lakers Daily]

The Lakers did not make any major upgrades to their roster after reaching the Western Conference Finals last season. While they believed their roster continuity would lead to a deeper run, that failed to materialize. Los Angeles finished 47-35 and were once again in the play-in tournament despite Anthony Davis playing the most games of his career and LeBron James playing his most games since 2017-18 – his last year with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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