The Los Angeles Lakers find themselves between a rock and a hard place after the first two games of their first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets. They blew double-digit leads in both contests, and they’re down 2-0 in the series as it heads to Southern California.
In a literal sense, one may think the Lakers are very capable of winning the next two games and making it a brand-new series. But in a real sense, they haven’t shown any proof they’re capable of winning even one game against the defending NBA champs.
Los Angeles’ Game 2 collapse was one of the worst in the franchise’s storied legacy and, quite honestly, one of the worst in the entire history of the NBA playoffs. Many are pointing the finger at head coach Darvin Ham, and the calls for him to be fired have grown louder and louder.
Therefore, most Lakers fans will not like what team insider Anthony Irwin wrote on his Substack. According to him, Ham will likely be back next season as the team’s head coach.
Via Substack:
“Their most pressing question, depending on the outcome and length of this series, is Darvin Ham’s future, and sources say, the Lakers remain very split on the job he’s done,” wrote Irwin.
“In fact, in asking around the last couple weeks heading into the play-in and playoffs, most people I’ve spoken to believe Ham will be back.”
It looks like the desire to keep Ham in place is coming from the top.
“All season, as reports circled about the job Ham has done and how the locker room felt about the rotation choices he made, his handling of in-game situations and overall ability to communicate his vision to the team, (Rob) Pelinka and Jeanie Buss have maintained steadfast support of their head coach.”
According to Irwin, the excuses for wanting to keep Ham include the injuries L.A. has had to key role players this season, the financial implications of having to pay Ham after he loses his job and his successor at the same time and the fact Ham is still a young and developing head coach.
After all, the team made the Western Conference finals last year, and perhaps Ham deserves some credit for that, despite all his flaws and deficiencies.
However, assuming LeBron James sticks around past this season, the Lakers will remain in win-now mode. That would make it hard to justify keeping a head coach who is either not ready to take his team to the promised land or will never become such a leader.
On the other hand, many Lakers fans believe the team’s front office is poorly run these days.