SUMMARY
- The Los Angeles Lakers have had a terrible losing record lately.
- Sources claim there is some friction between the Lakers locker room and Darvin Ham.
Things have been extremely terrible within the Los Angeles Lakers’ locker room. Darvin Ham appeared very confident that the LA organization would emerge as a top-tier team this season. However, his predictions haven’t seen the light of day so far. As the season approaches the halfway mark, the Lakers hanging by a thread seated at the 10th seed in the Western Conference. And to add injury to insult, they have had a terrible stretch of games lately.
There have been a few rumors circulating the league that the Lakers roster is disgruntled by Ham’s recent decisions. While he hasn’t been in his best form as a head coach, Ham has dealt with crumbling rosters before. We saw him rejuvenate the Lakers lineup last season following the Russell Westbrook trade. LA went from being a bust to a Western Conference Finalist.
There’s a “deepening disconnect” between Darvin Ham and Lakers locker room stemming from extreme rotation and starting lineup adjustments, per @ShamsCharania and @jovanbuha pic.twitter.com/xTySfQqVwE
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 4, 2024
Darvin Ham worked through the pressure of making sure a team like LA maintained its elite status. Despite the recent shortcomings, LA has worked through a couple of great runs. They managed to win the In-Season Tournament this season, and LeBron James was crowned the MVP. Anthony Davis has been playing outstanding defense as well. So what is the problem with this team?
Darvin Ham has opted for several lineups this season
Recently, Shams Charania revealed that multiple sources have stated that the Lakers roster isn’t happy with Darvin Ham’s coaching. “I’m told there’s a growing, deepening disconnect between Darvin Ham and that Lakers locker room right now. And a lot of it is stemming from extreme rotational changes, [and] lineup changes,” said Charania in a recent report.
“I’m told there’s a growing, deepening disconnect between Darvin Ham and that Lakers locker room right now, and a lot of it is stemming from extreme rotational changes, lineup changes.”@ShamsCharania on Head Coach Darvin Ham and the Lakers.
📺: https://t.co/wdT8I0ST8g pic.twitter.com/wQUUWBNy6b
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) January 4, 2024
The reporter also pointed out a recent change that Ham implemented unexpectedly during the Lakers vs. Thunder matchup on December 23, 2023. Ham brought Jarred Vanderbilt into the starting lineup and benched Austin Reaves. He had LeBron James assume the point guard’s position and put Vanderbilt in the 4x NBA Champion’s place.
Charania claimed that the Lakers players were baffled by this move as it didn’t work out for them on the court either. Reaves has been far more productive in terms of offense averaging 15.3 points per game while Vanderbilt only racks up only 2.7 points per game. Darvin Ham may have shifted both players to analyze their productivity.
Most importantly, he would have wanted to have a boost with Reaves coming off the bench. Such changes have increased the Lakers’ fluctuating system and as a result, they have not been winning consistently. Rather it has been quite the opposite.