Darvin Ham has taken the brunt of the criticism for the Los Angeles Lakers’ disappointing start to the season. Whether or not it’s deserved is up for debate. But regardless of how fans feel, it doesn’t appear he’ll be shown the door anytime soon.
The Lakers currently sit at 18–19 on the season following a 106–103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night. But even before that victory, it was reported that things would need to “worsen significantly” for Ham’s job to be in danger, according to Marc Stein’s The Stein Line Substack.
Current signals in circulation suggest that things would have to worsen significantly — significantly — for the 18-19 Lakers to truly put Darvin Ham’s job under immediate threat.
While that’s likely not the news many want to hear, it’s probably the correct call. Sure, this year’s Lakers team is built differently than last season’s, but how much?
The core is the same and through 37 games, they have a better record than last season (16–21). No one is giving one of the NBA’s most iconic franchises a pat on the back for improving on a 16–21 record one year later, and that’s certainly not entirely the point.
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It’s not apples-to-apples either, and expectations were higher for this year’s Lakers group after last season’s run to the Western Conference Finals. But after an impressive final stretch in which the Lakers went from 26–32 to 43–39 to set themselves up for a postseason run, it’s the right call to give the front office and Ham the chance to flip the script again.
Rob Pelinka has also done an admirable job overall at navigating the trade deadline and making deals to put Los Angeles in a position to be successful down the stretch, with last year being a primary example. Whether he should push to strike a blockbuster deal or instead opt to make one or two other moves to improve the roster will be a topic of debate.
But if the Lakers continue to struggle, it’d be a complete shock to see Pelinka stand pat at the trade deadline
If we learned anything from the 2022–23 season, the door isn’t slammed shut. That applies this year too. This current Lakers team is still very much in a position to climb the Western Conference standings, but it’s easier to preach patience than it is to actually be patient.
Regardless, it appears Ham is (rightfully) going to get at least the opportunity to replicate the turnaround from last season, if not more.
