The Los Angeles Lakers fired Darvin Ham on Friday after he had been their head coach for two seasons. While there were some high points during that time, such as when he guided them to last year’s Western Conference finals after starting 2-10, there weren’t enough of them.
Reportedly, it was Ham’s fiddling with the starting lineup and his inability to make proper strategic adjustments that led to him losing his job.
Still, there are some in the national media who believed the Lakers were hasty in dismissing Ham. There are also those who believe Ham has been the latest casualty of LeBron James’ attempt to control the narrative of his career. According to these critics, James and his camp are blaming the Lakers’ shortcomings entirely on Ham instead of talking about what James can do to improve the team’s fortunes.
Longtime sportswriter Michael Wilbon, who has praised James many times over the years, took the 39-year-old to task after Ham was ousted. In Wilbon’s mind, it was an example of James’ unwillingness to take accountability.
Michael Wilbon calls out LeBron James and Anthony Davis:
“If you wanna be the GOAT, then take accountability like one … “GOAT” carries responsibility, I don’t see it.” pic.twitter.com/tErKiK5UaL
— Will Eudy (@WillCEudy) May 4, 2024
Two things can be true at the same time. On one hand, Ham, who is a good and positive human being, simply wasn’t the right head coach for a Lakers team that is in win-now mode.
At the same time, critics have always accused James of always shifting the blame to others. In their mind, James ignoring Ham on the sidelines is perhaps one of his tactics to maroon and scapegoat a coach he doesn’t like, which leads to said coach getting criticism for the team’s shortcomings instead of James.