Will the Lakers look for a better replacement for Darvin Ham in the offseason?
The end of the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets series could lead to a number of changes within the organization.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first-round playoff series against the Nuggets, the Lakers survived Game 4 and survived the next day.
However, their chances of a complete comeback and four straight games to beat the reigning NBA champion are slim, which is why there are major questions surrounding the future of Lakers head coach Darvin Ham.
In his first season with Los Angeles, Hamm led the team to last year's Western Conference Finals. The 2023-24 season got off to a slow start, but after the Lakers won their first regular-season title of the NBA season in December, championship hopes were born.
Despite the success of Hamm's first two seasons with the organization, his accomplishments were overshadowed by the insane expectations he generated when he played alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The truth is, the Lakers expect to win a championship every season.
The reported disconnect between the coaching staff and the players throughout the season, as well as the lack of adjustments in the playoffs, has suddenly put Ham in the spotlight in terms of future job stability.
Ham is the third head coach since LeBron joined the organization in the 2018-19 season, with 90 wins in two seasons and reaching the Western Conference Finals, which is no easy feat. But with voices from outside the organization urging the team to part ways with Ham getting louder, they may be more serious about considering the idea of making changes to the dugout in the offseason.
Not only will the Lakers assess Ham's status in the summer, but they may also have to deal with James' exit from contract, with D'Angelo Russell and his player options in question.
The decision of whether or not the Lakers will fire Ham will not be hasty, and there are several factors that will influence this decision. One of the main reasons the team may remain as the second-year head coach in addition to his record and accomplishments is that the Lakers have never sought to pay large sums of money to hire a coach.
That's a point that ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski recently mentioned when discussing Hamm's future in NBA Countdown.
"If you're the head coach of the Lakers and you get swept in the first round of the playoffs or lose in five games, you're going to have job security issues. Darvin Hamm is going to have that problem," Wojnarowski said.
"What the Lakers need to think about is: what does the market look like, who's available there? Mike Budenholzer is the most successful available coach right now. The Lakers have not shown a tendency to be willing to pay large sums of money for the price Budenholzer can get in the market.
Is it fair that Darvin Ham loses his job? If they're swept, if they lose five games, that's part of the discussion the Lakers will have. ”
Before the Lakers are eliminated from the playoffs, it's really impossible to predict where this company might go. Although Ham has accomplished quite a bit in his first two seasons, the series of two consecutive losses to the Nuggets still casts some doubt on his future in Los Angeles.
It's clear that Lakers fans don't want Ham as their head coach next season. After the Lakers lost Game 3 to the Nuggets, there were calls to "fire Ham" from the very top of the Lakers' home court.
However, the organization doesn't necessarily listen to the fans.
Holding owner Jeanne Bass and executive Rob Pelinka have shown their support for Hamm despite the many ups and downs he has experienced in his first two seasons with the team. Whether or not they choose to part ways with Hamm will depend on two things: what is best for the future of the organization, and ultimately what LeBron wants.
The Lakers are committed to James, and they want to make the most of the final years of his career. If there are signs that the Lakers need to choose between LeBron and Ham in the offseason, then they can be fully confident that they will support James 100 percent.
Meanwhile, Bass and Pelinka are also keeping an eye on their team's future, as LeBron turns 40 next year.
The unfortunate thing about everything that's happening with the Lakers is that Ham could be a scapegoat for many of their wrongdoings.
After all, the Lakers had to deal with a ton of injuries over two seasons in Los Angeles, and Ham did keep the team just four games away from the NBA Finals in 2023, and no other coach has achieved more than Ham with the Lakers right now.
The reluctance to spend a lot of money on a new head coach, especially someone like Budenholzer, could well lead the Lakers to choose to stay on Ham's path for the 2024-25 season.
At the end of the day, until the end of the season, we can't predict what plans this organization has in store.
However, to be honest, the former coach of the Bucks is very suitable for James, so let's replace Ham.