In 2022, the Los Angeles Lakers picked Darvin Ham as Frank Vogel’s replacement to champion the twilight of Lebron James’ career. The move was supported by LeBron James wholly endorsed. But the honeymoon didn’t last long.
In Netflix’s docuseries, “Starting 5,” James’ frustration about Ham, particularly regarding his limited playing time early in the 2023-24 season. In one scene, James expresses his disappointment with the imposed minute restrictions and challenges the team’s strategy.
“I know y’all got me on f—–g old man time percentages and s–t…two shots in eight minutes is just getting cardio. I hate this s–t already. This s–t’s garbage,” James said in the series. “You guys know I’m in better shape than everybody.”
They fired Darvin Ham after two seasons despite compiling a regular season record of 90-74 and a postseason record of 9-12, including two play-in tournament victories and an appearance in the Western Conference finals.
Darvin Ham’s Assessment of Lakers Firing
And Ham still disagrees with the decision despite landing back with the Milwaukee Bucks as their head coach.
“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 told Marc Spears of Andscape. “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 your play-in games to get to the playoffs. People always talk about us losing to Denver, but they never talk about how we got to Denver. We beat a kick-ass young squad in Memphis and we beat Golden State.”