Midway through the fourth quarter of a “road” game against the rival LA Clippers on Feb. 28, with the Los Angeles Lakers having cut a lead that was once as much as 21 points in the fourth quarter down to five, a question arose within the team’s player-led huddle.
Why are we running plays to have LeBron James attack a former Defensive Player of the Year in Kawhi Leonard if the Clippers are willingly switching big man Daniel Theis onto him in screening actions?
The answer, provided by multiple players whom team sources say spoke up in the huddle, would provide the key to that night’s comeback win in those final five-plus minutes.
Anthony Davis would set the high screen to prompt the switch, with D’Angelo Russell as the “high man” and Rui Hachimura in the strong-side corner. If a double-team came James’ way, Russell would flash across the lane and open up a potential dunk for Davis or a 3-pointer for Hachimura in the corner. The plan worked to near perfection, with Theis taking over for Leonard six times down the stretch and James picking the opposition apart from there as the Lakers finished the game on a 15-6 run to win 116-112.
During this fourth quarter, in which James scored or assisted on 11 of the Lakers’ 13 field goals, seven weeks after the job security of second-year coach Darvin Ham had become a major storyline of their season, the irony of the Clippers’ ending wasn’t lost on several Lakers players. They had, in their minds, won the game on their own.
It had been one step forward, two steps back for the Lakers over the two-plus months since their In-Season Tournament championship. But this, as some players saw it, was a sign of the locker room coming together in an attempt to salvage a challenging situation with the head coach with whom they often didn’t connect. Their self-empowerment, it seemed, was born out of the perceived absence of effective direction from the coaching staff.
This moment, one of many in which these Lakers felt compelled to find their own solutions, summed up a season that began with high hopes after their Western Conference finals appearance against Denver last year, but ended with another ouster at the hands of the Nuggets. And by the time the Lakers’ season ended in Game 5 against Denver on Monday night, when Jamal Murray’s second game-winner of the first-round series sent the Lakers home less than a year after the Nuggets swept them last May, there were strong signs within the organization that Ham would be deemed most responsible.
The Lakers’ unflattering finish leaves Ham’s future as head coach in serious peril, multiple league and team sources tell The Athletic, with some stakeholders indicating it’s highly unlikely he’ll return. The plan is to reassess everything that went wrong in the coming days before making a final decision. In 2022, Ham signed a four-year deal in the range of $5 million per season, so the team would be assuming the remainder of his deal if he is fired.
It seemed like every time we hit a rhythm, somebody, a key piece, would fall out of the lineup. It is what it is, man,” Ham said after the Game 5 defeat. “I’m not going to feel sorry for myself, for ourselves. It’s an unbelievable franchise to represent. I couldn’t ask for a better governor, a better president of (basketball operations) in Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss. But I’ve seen a lot my first two years in this seat. I’ll continue to work, to get better and to control what I can control.”
The Lakers believed this roster was built for much more than a first-round defeat. Vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and his staff retained key free agents, such as Austin Reaves, Russell and Hachimura, extended Jarred Vanderbilt and believed the core had promise to make a title run around Davis and James. Throughout the series and most of the season, however, team officials and players believe Ham’s fluctuating rotations, game plans and lack of adjustments led to an underperforming group. It created discontent within the locker room, which became palpable across the franchise.
The Lakers’ blown 20-point lead in Game 2 of the Denver series served as a final straw of sorts. After a successful first year as coach in which he showed signs as a leader of players, the tide turned for Ham this season. There was tremendous respect for Ham as a person, and players had an appreciation for his pro career and time as an assistant coach in Atlanta and Milwaukee. But, as one player said recently, “We need to be coached, too.”
