NBA coaches on the hot seat No. 3: Darvin Ham, Los Angeles Lakers
Let it be known I resent having to put Darvin Ham on this list. He is the furthest to blame for the Lakers’ initial struggles. The roster construction around LeBron James and Anthony Davis has been absolutely abysmal. However as mentioned early on, the coach always gets put on the chopping block before anyone else.
The Lakers came into this season with unreasonable optimism. After year one of the Westbrook experience in LA, the Lakers looked to retool their supporting cast. The problem is while they did offload their players who didn’t work, almost none of the players they brought in solved any problems for the Lakers. None of their current players are even comparable to the role men who were conducive to a championship in 2020.
Ham off his first season has been flexible and has attempted various lineups, including turning Russell Westbrook into a sixth man, which is a tremendous feat.
The season will go on and Ham has to work with what he has, but in a market like LA and a GM coming off a brand new contract extension, the Buss family might look to blame Ham first for their woes.