Shortly after the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated 2-4 in the first round of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets, head coach Darvin Ham, who had coached the Lakers for two seasons, was fired, and Lakers management subsequently fired all the coaching staff and began looking for a new head coach to form a new coaching team.
According to the latest report from Lakers Daily reporter Anthony Irving, Ham actually lost control of the Lakers' locker room as early as December last year, all because he put Torion Prince in the starting lineup instead of Hachimura in the Lakers' game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on December 24. Ham also put D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves on the bench at the same time, fielding a starting lineup of LeBron James, Prince, Jarred Vanderbilt, Cam Reddish and Anthony Davis.
Irving wrote: "According to people familiar with the matter, last year's core players all felt like victims of roster experimentation, and throughout the offseason, they emphasized building roster consistency, but everyone except James and Davis was on the bench at various points this season, and it wasn't until halfway through the season that the group really understood what the roster should look like." When Prince was deployed to replace Hachimura in the starting line-up at the start of the season, several key players were taken by surprise. To be clear, no one is targeting Prince, but many in the locker room and on the team are wondering why the rotation strategy that has been in place for months has been left behind at the start of the season. ”
The Lakers have a 90-74 record in Ham's two seasons under the club, having been swept out of the 2023 Western Conference Finals by the Denver Nuggets and then lost 4-2 to the Nuggets in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. "When Prince, Reeves and Russell were on the floor at the same time and got into trouble at the same time, it took a darker turn for Reaves when he was on the bench, and even team executives couldn't help but wonder why Ham was so impatient with Reeves when things went wrong, but people like Prince and Reddish were given endless opportunities," Irving wrote. ”
Reports suggest that Ham insisted on starting Prince because he had a special sense of trust in players he had coached before. Ham was an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks from 2013-18, during Prince's prime days.
The Lakers have now begun the process of finding a new coach, and they have all been rumored with Tyronn Lue (current Clippers head coach), J.J. Redick (ESPN commentator), Kenny Atkinson (former Nets head coach), Mike Budenholzer (former Hawks, Bucks head coach) and Charles Lee (current Celtics head assistant coach). James, on the other hand, will play for his fourth head coach since joining the Lakers in 2018, and while the NBA legend has a player option next season, he is expected to stay with the Lakers.