The Los Angeles Lakers are wasting no time to get their head coach position filled. Smartly, they are looking no further than the defending NBA champion’s bench. The Lakers have taken interest in former NBA swingman, Darvin Ham, who is currently an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania was first to report the team looking to bring him in to lead the Lakers’ bounce-back.
Sources: The Lakers have requested permission to interview Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham for their head coach opening. Ham served as a Lakers assistant from 2011-13. The team is starting the next stage of the coaching search process.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 29, 2022
As mentioned, Ham played eight seasons in the league. Three of those years were spent with his employer, the Bucks. The franchise currently employs him as the lead assistant coach alongside Mike Budenholzer.
Ham’s basketball endeavors are some of the most interesting in the league. He won an NBA championship in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons. He spent time participating in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program in 2005. He’s also had other international contributions to improving the game across the globe. The Atlanta Hawks also entrusted him during their rise as an Eastern Conference competitor.
More importantly, Ham bleeds a little bit of Lakers blood. He was a player development coach for the franchise from 2011 to 2013. During that time, he worked with Kobe Bryant and current Laker, Dwight Howard. Despite the ties, he’s a fresh voice with a lot of pedigree. The Lakers will need to bring in a voice to bridge the gap between contention, and the next direction post-LeBron James. As the past has taught us, it’s very helpful to get respected voices in the coaching room, and Ham is one of the many names coming up in the league.
